Pastor Pius Muiru during a past church service.
Two years after emerging fifth in the 2007 presidential vote, Pastor Pius Muiru, who is the founder of Maximum Miracle Centre, walked into Equity Bank's Tom Mboya Street branch in Nairobi and took a Sh216 million loan.
Mr Muiru, who got 9,000 votes in the December 27, 2007, General Election, secured the loan in 2010. Insiders have told Daily Nation that the assets attached to the credit facility were valued at Sh960 million.
The loan has now turned into a nightmare for the pastor, who, in his heyday, had a fanatic congregation and enjoyed the trappings of power.
The popular evangelist is credited with being among the pioneers of radio and television evangelism. For decades, he ruled the airwaves and earned a moniker Kuna nuru gizani, loosely translated to “there is light in the darkness” — a signature call that popularised his church.
Now, Pastor Muiru has filed a high-stakes lawsuit seeking to save the vast properties that he co-owns with his wife, Lucy, from imminent auction. The properties, including land and rental units, are spread across Nairobi and Kiambu counties.
The pastor insists the outstanding balance is Sh27 million, but the bank disputes this. Mr Muiru told the court that since the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, his mainstay, Maximum Miracle Centre, has had diminished fortunes. He fears Equity Bank may put up his multi-million-shilling properties for sale and worsen his situation.
Properties for sale
''The plaintiff is apprehensive that unless restrained by an injunction order of this honourable court, the defendant is likely to proceed to fraudulently advertise the suit properties for sale without any colour of right herein and to proceed to realise the same despite knowing there is no legal basis whatsoever for the said action,” Pastor Muiru, through the Trustees of Maximum Miracle Centre, says in an affidavit.
“That pending the hearing and determination of the suit herein, an interlocutory injunction order do issue to restrain the defendant either by itself, its agents or servants from fraudulently purporting to advertise for sale securities herein . That the auctioneer's costs and other charges occasioned by the fraudulent statutory notice be settled by the defendant.
Mr Muiru and his wife have told the court that they have demonstrated that they are willing to offset the loan, having paid Sh350, 640,968.07. They claim Equity Bank has overcharged the loan with an additional Sh122,865,801.43. Maximum Miracle Centre claims the outstanding balance should be Sh27,965,260.50.
''After the plaintiff paying a total of Sh350, 640,968.07, there was a recalculation difference in the outstanding balance as at September 15, 2020, between the defendant's debit balance of Sh150,829, 061.80, and Interest Rates Centre Ltd (IRAC) debit balance of Sh27,963,260.50. Accordingly, there was a total overcharge of 122,865,801.43 in favour of the 1st plaintiff, which ought to be offset against the plaintiff’s loan account to leave an outstanding balance of Sh27,965,260.50,’’ Mr Muiru's lawyer has told the court.
The pastor explained to the court how the transaction between Maximum Miracle Centre and Equity Bank came to be.
Pastor Pius Muiru at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi, on december 31, 2009.
''That I am the managing trustee of the plaintiff herein and duly authorised by my co-trustees to make this affidavit on its behalf. That the banking relationship started way back on 2010 when the first plaintiff (Maximum Miracle Centre) applied and was granted a loan facility of Sh216 million by the defendant. That the loan was secured by means of the following securities- L.R. (Land Reference Numbers) 209/525/38, 209/525/40/&L.R. No 13330/604, Nairobi, which were stamped and registered to cover a sum of Sh216 million,’’ Pastor Muiru says in his affidavit filed at Milimani Commercial Court.
The Daily Nation is in possession of court documents that reveal that the credit facility to Pastor Muiru was also backed by personal guarantees by his wife through a deed of assignment of rental income over Land Reference Number 209/525/38,209/525/39&209/529/40; charge over all shares in the capital of Nairobi Theatres Limited and Corporate Guarantee from Nairobi Theatres Limited, a family owned enterprise that is based in Nairobi.
Equity Bank says the loan was to be paid by 84 equal monthly instalments translating to Sh4, 107, 738 per month.
The loan was advanced at an interest rate of 14.5 per cent per annum on reducing balance subject to review by the lender, and the default penalty was pegged at six per cent.
But Equity Bank Kenya Limited, in its replying affidavit, has told the court that from September 1, 2011, to September 20, 2016, Maximum Miracle Centre defaulted on the loan hence accrued interest rates.
“That coupled with the plaintiff’s default in servicing the loan, the penalty for default on interest at six per cent above the applicable interest rate was applied on the plaintiff’s loan account between the period of September 1, 2011, to September 20, 2016. An injunction will not normally be granted unless the applicant might otherwise suffer irreparable injury that cannot be compensated by damages. The plaintiff’s application …has all been filed prematurely as the defendant is yet to issue all the requisite notices to exercise its statutory power of sale,’’ Equity Bank has told the court while objecting to Maximum Miracle Centre's bid to secure orders not to advertise its property for auction.
However, Justice M Muigai has stopped Equity Bank from advertising the properties for public auction. The matter is set for hearing on July 8, 2026, before Justice Njoki Mwangi.
But even as this happens, the troubles Pastor Muiru and his ministry are facing seem not to be over. Court documents reveal his loss in another deal. Mr Muiru had sued his co-pastor at Maximum Miracle Centre barely a few years after ordaining him.
Mr Muiru had sued Andrew Mlewa Mkare, who at the time was the overseer of the Coastal region. Under the deal, Pastor Mkare was to use the Maximum Miracle Centre name for his church on condition that he pays tithes without expecting any financial aid from Maximum Miracle Centre. He was later awarded a certificate of affiliation by Pastor Muiru. Along the way, the pastors fell out, and Mr Mkare set up a breakaway church in Watamu, Malindi.
Mr Muiru moved to court claiming that Pastor Mkare was funded by Maximum Miracle Centre's tithes and contributions when he started off. He wants the land reverted to the church.
While dismissing the plaintiff’s case, Judge O.A. Angote said Pastor Mkare demonstrated that he used his own cash to set up the church.
Last week, Pastor Muiru and his wife, through their publicist, declined an interview with Daily Nation. They said they were not ready for any publicity.
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