Pastor Ezekiel Odero has said he was not given any opportunity to defend himself and the church before the Registrar of Societies embarked on deregistering New Life Prayer Centre and Church.
Odero in documents filed before the Milimani Law Courts is pleading to have the decision overturned as it is curtailing his congregant’s freedom of worship.
He maintains he had no prior information as to the decision of the Registrar to cancel the Registration of the church and was not given any opportunities to defend himself in order to avert the deregistration.
“It is increasingly disheartening of the numerous attempts by state organs to persecute me, frustrate my ministry and eventually not only shut down the New Life Prayer Centre & Church but also all my other projects,” says Odero
Through Lawyer Danstan Omari, Pastor Ezekiel is seeking to suspend the registrar’s directive cancelling the registration of the New Life Prayer Centre as announced in a gazette notice published on August 18 this year.
He has named the Registrar of Societies and the Attorney General as respondents in the case.
According to the court documents, the gazette notice issued by the Registrar stated that the cancellation was effected on May 19 2023, notwithstanding the fact that on May 25 this year, they served Odero with a letter dated April 27 2023 requiring him to show cause within 21 days why his church’s registration should not be cancelled for failure to file its annual returns.
This Odero says is "an obvious scheme to frustrate the operations of the church, the Notice to show cause was served upon me 8 days after the expiry of the intended 21-day notice”.
The Pastor adds that on April 11 this year, they requested the Registrar to avail the church’s file in a bid to ensure the church files its annual returns.
Two days later, the Registrar responded to Odero’s legal team saying “Kindly inform your client to file their Annual Returns for the years 2012 to 2022 to enable us process your request”.
The Pastor says despite ceaseless attempts to get the church’s file from the Registrars registry for purposes of filing its annual returns, the Registrar has refused to avail them the same.
“The Registrar intentionally and maliciously conspired to make unavailable the church’s file in a bid to frustrate my efforts to remain in compliance with the Societies Act by filing its Annual Returns on time.” Says Odero
He adds that Lady Justice Olga Sewe, sitting at the High Court of Mombasa issued an order on May 10 this year directing the Registrar and state to refrain from interfering with the religious activities of the Church.
“It is with utmost concern that the Registrar herein seems to be working round the clock to defeat the purpose of the order issued by the Mombasa High Court on 10th May 2023, embarrassing the authority of the Honorable Court in a bid to fulfill its own malicious and hidden agenda,” says the Pastor.
