Pastor Ezekiel Appeals Deregistration Of His Newlife Church And Prayer Centre: "They Refused My Returns"

• Pastor Ezekiel Odero's Newlife Prayer Centre and Church has been deregistered by the Registrar of Societies
• Ezekiel, through his defense team has termed the move unfair saying he was not given a fair chance to be heard
• The preacher claimed that the registrar of societies had made it difficult for him to file annual returns in compliance with the law thus making him liable to deregistration

Mombasa based preacher Pastor Ezekiel Odero has vowed to fight back after his church was deregistered.

Pastor Ezekiel's church deregistered

Ezekiel, through his defense team Musyoki and Mogaka Advocates argues that his church was unfairly deregistered and urged the Office of the Attorney General to put aside the decision that will adversely affect his pastoral work.

The cleric has instead accused the Registrar of Societies of acting in bad faith in a bid to frustrate his popular "Meza ya Bwana" (The Lord's Table) event that was set to run for two weeks.

"The intention of the gazette notice published today on August 18, 2023 is in absolute bad faith due to my popularity and the massive event “Meza ya Bwana” which is usually attended by approximately 100,000 believers scheduled to run for the next two weeks," Odero said.

TUKO.co.ke established that Ezekiel has written notice of appeal to the Assistant Secretary office of the Attorney General seeking to have the ban revoked.

Pastor Ezekiel appeals deregistration

In the letter, Odero claimed that the registrar hid the church's file at the registry with an intention of frustrating the filing of annual returns.

"The registrar knowingly and in bad faith made the file unavailable at the registry, with the intention of frustrating the filing of annual returns which has caused the cancellation of the registration certificate.

"The registrar’s actions and or inaction are in direct contravention of our client’s inalienable constitutional right to fair administrative action," Odero stated.

Through lawyer Danstan Omari, Odero further claimed that he was not given a fair hearing before the deregistration of his church.

"We appeal the decision for cancellation of registration on the following grounds. There was no notice of the cancellation of registration issued to our client pursuant to section 12 of the Act.

Danstan Omari in court for Pastor Ezekiel

"There has been communication by our client and or his representatives to the registrar of societies regarding the filing of annual returns. However, the registrar indicated that the file was unavailable at the registry which in turn frustrated our clients from filing the annual returns," Omari stated.

Omari insisted that Odero's returns had been ready for filing since the beginning of April 2023, but the file has been unavailable at the registry. He accused the registry staff of refusing to accept the annual returns without the file.

"Even at the request to open a skeleton file at the registry, there has been no response by the registrar," he stated.

List of deregistered churches

Speaking at Milimani Law Courts, Omari wants his appeal to operate as a stay order and Odero allowed to run his services.

"Owing to the provisions under section 15 (3) of the Societies Act, pending the decision by this able office on this appeal, we are guided that the Newlife Prayer Centre and Church shall not be an unlawful society and seek that the appeal to operate as a stay," Omari stated.

Ezekiel's Kilifi-based centre is among five other churches whose registration has been revoked, in a move to crackdown on religious institutions that are non-compliant.

Other churches deregistered include Helicopter of Christ Church, Theophilus Church, Kings Outreach Church and controversial Pastor Paul Mackenzie's Goodnews International Ministries.