Fact-finding trip to Pastor Ezekiel church raises more queries than answers
Pastor Ezekiel Odera (second left) with members of the Senate ad hoc committee that is investigating the Shakahola massacre, led by its chairman Danson Mungatana (third right) at his New Life Prayer Centre and Church on October 17, 2023.
What you need to know:
- As the committee is broke, questions have been raised regarding who sponsored the trip.
- The fact-finding mission came about after Pastor Ezekiel offered to take the senators on a tour of his church.
Controversy has rocked a Monday visit by a Senate ad-hoc committee to controversial preacher Ezekiel Odera’s vast New Life Prayer Centre in Kilifi County with questions lingering on the financier of the trip.
Details have emerged of how the 11-member team investigating the Shakahola massacre visited Mavueni without a single technical staff as is required of a parliamentary committee for a fact-finding mission.
Adding fuel to the controversy, some members of the committee gave the visit a wide berth citing “personal” reasons.
This even as the committee accused unnamed senior officials in President William Ruto’s administration of frustrating its work after controversial preacher Paul Makenzie and chief government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor yesterday snubbed a session with the MPs.
The committee that is chaired by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana arrived at the Mombasa International Airport in the morning before heading to the church. However, the visit raised eyebrows after the committee left behind its secretariat, which usually accompanies committees during official visits.
A properly constituted parliamentary committee consists of the chair, vice-chair, members and the secretariat, which comprises clerks, legal officers, researchers, Hansard reporters, a sergeant-at-arms and a media relations officer.
Pastor Ezekiel Odera (second left) explains a point to the Senate ad hoc committee that is investigating the Shakahola massacre, led by its chairman Danson Mungatana (second right) at his New Life Prayer Centre and Church on October 17, 2023.
The fact-finding mission came about after Pastor Ezekiel, while appearing before the committee last Friday, offered to take the senators on a tour of his church.
He was being questioned on his alleged links to controversial preacher Paul Makenzie, who is suspected of orchestrating the Shakahola deaths.
“I will pay for you to come and see what we do. I pray from the bottom of my heart that the chair of the committee convinces the members to come,” Mr Odero told the committee last week.
Mr Odero is currently out on bail after he was arrested and detained for seven days.
It has now emerged that the committee, which has been sitting for more than four months, has exhausted its budget. It has been forced to compile its report from the Kenyatta International Convention Centre KICC in Nairobi after the Senate Liaison Committee chaired by Deputy Speaker Kathure Murungi declined to allocate it more funds.
For Parliament to fund a committee, a memo must be raised to have the Speaker’s authority once the Speaker, the deputy and the clerk are in agreement over such a visit. The memo then goes to the clerk for approval.
The source alleged that the committee was told the trip to Pastor Ezekiel’s church wouldn’t be possible as the process required at least four working days.
“The time was not there and then the other thing is that the committee has no funds. When we sought extension, they only gave us Sh2 million,” said the source.
Pastor Ezekiel’s lead lawyer, Mr Danstan Omari, denied that the preacher bankrolled the senators’ trip, saying, the legislators used parliamentary resources.
Reached for comment, Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye referred us to Speaker Amason Kingi. Yesterday, Mr Mungatana denied being sponsored by the preacher for the trip, saying, they were facilitated by Parliament.
Bungoma Senator Wakoli Wafula said the committee “exists to serve the public and is not at the mercy of anyone”.
Nominated Senator Hamida Kibwana said it is only the chairperson who can give the position of the committee on the matter.
“Do you think we can allow a witness to sponsor us? ” Ms Kibwana posed.
