Church leader in contempt case tenders apology to court

Nairobi, Kenya: The archbishop of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) has tendered a written apology to a Nairobi court after he was found guilty of contempt.

Archbishop Amos Kabuthu, tabled the written apology before High Court Judge Hatari Waweru, where he detailed how he would go about reversing the contempt.

Justice Waweru gave the parties a week to study the proposals by the clergy before the matter resumes on October 16.

The church dispute is between its officials and the religious leader where he has been accused of channelling church funds to another account other than the one recognised by the church.

The archbishop is said to have opened another account without following the proper procedure and is facing other allegations of squandering the funds together with a few church officials.

James Njeru, a church member filed a suit under a certificate of urgency where he stated that the archbishop had wrongfully suspended 27 members of the Nairobi Arch Dioceses Committee without authority.

The church is also aggrieved by Archbishop Kabuthu's decision to appoint a commission to run the affairs of the Nairobi Arch dioceses, a move, which they said is not provided for in the Church Constitution. Njeru stated that the commissioners were destabilising the church by interfering in the smooth running of church affairs in Nairobi.

Justice Waweru ordered status quo to be maintained until the matter is heard and determined, an order which the church leader went against.

The archbishop went ahead and ordained 24 members of clergy on May 25, at the church's Bahati headquarters, against the court orders. The court ordered him to pay Sh500,000 for contempt, failure to which, he would be jailed.

Njeru sought to have Kabuthu stopped from conducting any function of the church in the meantime.