Kanjai, about four kilometres from Meru University of Science and Technology in Tigania West Constituency, is a typical rural village, with several mud-walled houses.
This is the place where a man reportedly pretending to be a pastor pitched a tent and indoctrinated locals with extreme gospel for years.
Daniel Mururu, who was arrested at his home near Kianjai market yesterday morning, exploited the innocence of villagers to radicalise them and sexually exploit women and girls, according to Tigania West Police Commander Robinson Langat.
Police say it all started in 2018 when Mr Mururu was posted to the local East African Pentecostal Churches of Kenya (EAPC) branch. The church had stood on the piece of land donated by the community for more than 30 years.
Christina Nthama, a resident of Kanjai in Tigania West narrates her experience in the hands of a rogue pastor in this photo taken on August 29, 2024. Residents burnt their church accusing the pastor of cultism.
Photo credit: Gitonga Marete | Nation
When Pastor Mururu arrived, locals say, he was welcomed with open arms by the community, including then-church elder Bernard Kinyua. Months later, Mr Kinyua said the “man of God” told them he would fly out of the country to seek “powers” that would enable him to perform miracles for the benefit of the community.
On return, Pastor Mururu started behaving strangely – preaching extreme messages and conducting rituals that bordered on bizarre, Mr Kinyua said. “When he returned from the foreign country that he never mentioned, we started witnessing strange behaviour. I was disgusted to find a chicken slaughtered in the church. He ordered me to leave. I never went back to that church,” Mr Kinyua said, adding that Mururu’s preaching was not “God’s teachings”.
According to locals, the pastor would slaughter a goat in church and sprinkle the blood on worshippers. He would also draw the sign of a cross on their foreheads and tongues with his bloody fingers, the villagers told police.
The blood would be burnt on the pulpit and the meat cooked and shared among the faithful. In the police report, the church members say Mururu would select a man and a woman from the congregants and ask them to proceed to the pulpit where he ordered them to “get into bed” and act as if they were having sex.
Pastor Daniel Mururu who is accused of running a cult at an EAPC church, Kanjai branch in Tigania West constituency.
Photo credit: Pool | Nation
The details are contained in a report by the Tigania West Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). Women claim the pastor forced them into having sex with him, cursing whoever defied his “divine” orders. “Investigations established that the pastor and church elders were running a cult and radicalised followers,” the DCI says in the report.
To cover up Mururu’s crimes, the men in the church instilled fear in the other worshippers, warning of calamities befalling them if they revealed whatever was happening to the outside world.
The calamities, according to police included diseases like cancer. Women, the report goes on, were warned that they would never have children if they defied the pastor’s advances or criticised him. Police say the pastor and church elders lured more than 30 women into sex and defiled girls. At least 23 of the said victims have recorded statements with police, among them a pregnant 17-year-old Form Three student.
“The pastor reportedly ordered women and girls to strip naked, shaved their pubic hair, sucked their breasts and had sex with them in church. The orders were executed by the church elders and ushers,” the report adds. Pastor Mururu fled the village when angry Kianjai residents raided the church and razed it on August 26, 2024. The EAPC has denounced the pastor, saying it has confirmed his “wayward behaviour”.
Bishop Samuel Muguna, the head of the EAPC, said he received complaints about the pastor from Kianjai residents three months ago and took action. He added that the church carried out investigations and established that Pastor Mururu was preaching “a doctrine that is out of the EAPC teachings”.
“We have since excommunicated him,” Bishop Muguna told the Daily Nation by phone.
The bishop said the church had compiled a report about the pastor and sent it police. He, however, added that Mururu remained at the church for long because of the support he received from many of the worshippers.
“Before villagers took that action, we posted a new pastor there but some members of the church rejected him. It was then that we sought the intervention of the police,” he said.
Church members said their pastor instructed them to remove shoes and wash their feet during services. The water would then be used for drinking and preparing tea that would be shared by all.
The church had about 100 members, mostly women and children. Mururu is to appear in court this morning, September 5.
