Inspector General of police Japheth Koome risks a 6 month jail term for ignoring a court order and going ahead to close one of Pastor Ezekiel Odero’s New Life Church branches.
On Sunday, police officers in Nyeri stormed into New Life church new branch and shut it down despite there being a court order stopping them from interfering with operations of the church.
Speaking to the press in Nyeri, Odero’s lawyer Danstan Omari said they will be moving to court on Monday to file a contempt of court application against the IG for disobeying the order.
Omari and Lawyer Samson Nyaberi were in Nyeri following the arrest of Pastor David Manyasi who was leading service at the new Nyeri branch that has been opened to cater for the people of Mt Kenya region.
He claimed that when the police went to the premises they made away with the holy communion, the holy book and the tithes that had been collected.
“We have intervened and pastor has been released, we produced a court order that says the church was not deregistered and we shall be moving to court tomorrow to sue them for contempt because the order was served to IG,DCI and AG,” Omari said.
Last month, Justice Jairus Ngaah issued an order barring the state from disrupting or obstructing operations of the New Life Prayer Church pending hearing and determination of their case.
Omari said New Life has so far opened three new branches of churches to cater for their congregants who have been travelling long distances to Mavueni for service.
The three include Nyeri, Nakuru and Austria which are all churches under Odero’s New Life Ministry.
Omari said the state was served with the order and it was baffling that the police had gone to close down the church while congregants were being led through service.
He further said the 10 acre land where the Nyeri church has been put was a donation from one his followers.
