Kilifi-based Pastor Ezekiel Odero has been given a major reprieve after the High Court suspended a decision by the Registrar of Societies to deregister his church in May 2023.
The court has allowed the New Life Prayer Centre Church, which has over 5000 followers, to continue to operate.
In a brief ruling, Justice Jairus Ngaah said the suit filed by Odero and two members of his church - Franklin Kilonzo and Alice Nafula Wanyama - raised substantial legal issues that needed to be explored in a full trial.
The judge therefore temporarily suspended the government's decision to deregister the church without giving them an opportunity to be heard.
The church was deregistered on 19 May 2023, but the gazette notification was published on 18 August 2023.
"Pending the questioning by this court as to whether the process leading to the deregistration of the New Life Prayer Centre and Church was in accordance with the law of the land and in particular whether it was legal, rational and procedurally fair to the New Life Prayer Centre and Church, the gazette notice dated August 18, 2023 shall remain suspended pending further directions of this court," Justice Ngaah ruled.
The judge made the ex parte orders following an application by the petitioners' lawyers Danstan Omari, Samson Nyaberi, Cliff Ombeta and Shadrack Wambui, who argued that the government's move was unlawfully intended to frustrate and obstruct the operations of the church.
The lawyers further argued that the hell-bent officials were coming to the rescue of Odero's church, which has economically transformed the topography of Kilifi County.
Ombeta told the court that over 8,000 people earn their daily wages from the church's operations and the forthcoming Kilifi International University and an airstrip.
The lawyers told the judge that the application was urgent and urged him to suspend the Registrar's move.
They argued that the government, through the Registrar of Societies, had deliberately and maliciously conspired toto frustrate the efforts of Odero's church to comply with the Societies Act by filing its annual returns on time.
"There is an obvious plan to frustrate and obstruct the ecclesiastical operations of his church, he only became aware of the notice to show cause through the media, eight days after the intended 21-day notice had expired," Omari argued.
"We had no prior information about the decision of the Registrar of Societies to deregister our church and were not given any opportunity to defend ourselves and the church to avert the deregistration," Odero and the church officials told the court.
Odero and his church officials also urged the court to set aside the Registrar's unlawful order to deregister the church.The two members and the preacher also want the court to compel the Registrar of Societies to immediately and without delay accept the annual returns that the church has been diligently trying to submit since April 2023.
In the court documents, they asked the court to restrain the Registrar of Societies and her agents or anyone else under her direction from engaging in any form of disruption or obstruction of the operations of the New Life Prayer Centre & Church under the guise of enforcing the deregistration published in the Gazette Notice.
They told the court that the gazette notice issued by the Registrar of Societies purporting to deregister Ezekiel's Church was issued on May 15, 2023, notwithstanding the fact that on May 25, 2023, Odero was informed by the media in a letter dated April 27, 2023, to show cause within 21 days why his church's registration should not be deregistered for failure to file its annual returns.
The petitioners added that despite the church's incessant attempts by Odero through his lawyers to obtain the church's file from the Registrar's office for the purpose of filing its annual returns, the Registrar has failed, ignored, neglected or refused to make the said file available to the church.
Odero says the calculated scheme by the Registrar of Societies to cancel the church's registration on May 19, 2023 and make it public on August 18, 2023, yet the church only became aware of the notice to show cause on May 25, 2023, is an attempt to frustrate the church's right to fair administrative action in view of its upcoming international Meza ya Bwana (holy communion) conference scheduled for 14 days.
