Vihiga Archbishop found guilty of fraudulently acquiring church land

A wooden gavel. [Courtesy/GettyImages]

‎A Vihiga court has convicted the Archbishop of the Israel Nineveh church after being found guilty of fraudulently acquiring church land.

‎Resident Magistrate Nicodemus Moseti, in his judgment, convicted John Mweresa on four counts of fraud.

‎Mweresa is said to have procured the execution of a document by false pretense.

‎The judgment read that the Archbishop at African Israel Nineveh church in Jebruok market, Hamisi sub-county within Vihiga county, by fraudulent representation, procured Benjamin Asege Anzongani to sign an application for consent of the land control board document.

In the second count, Mweresa is said to have procured the execution of a document by false pretense, where he is purported to have procured Anzogani to sign a transfer of land document in reference to land parcel number Kakamega/Gimarakwa/494 on May 20, 1993.

He is said to have obtained the land’s registration by false pretense.

According to the judgment, Mweresa, in an exhibit presented in court, gave a notice of eviction to his younger brother and his deceased mother to vacate land parcel number Kakamega/Gimarakwa/494, which he purported to be the registered owner.

The court established that this was despite him admitting that the land initially belonged to his late father Paulo Kivuli and that succession had not been done to confer him transmission ownership rights of the properties in issue.

“The insinuation that his younger brother is not the owner of the properties the subject matter of the proceedings herein relates to warrants him to be the complainant in this case is immaterial,” Moseti ruled.

The court, on the other hand, acquitted the archbishop on four more counts where he was accused of forging an application for consent and transfer of land purporting it to be a genuine document signed by his late father and making a document without authority.

It established that the prosecution did not give direct evidence on how the accused participated in forging a document and making a document without authority.

The resident magistrate declined a mitigation to have the archbishop released on bond and be considered for a non-custodial sentence, ordered that his bond be cancelled, and he be remanded in custody until November 10, 2025, when the matter will be brought for sentencing.

“I wish to point out that the law applies uniformly and therefore decline to grant the accused preferential treatment. Accordingly, I hereby order that the accused’s bond be and is hereby cancelled. He shall be remanded in custody forthwith,” his judgment read in part.

This is despite pleadings that the archbishop was a leader whose church members depended on and that his absence would affect the flock he ministers.

Furthermore, Moseti ordered a pre-sentence report.

Eight witnesses testified in the course of the proceedings that dragged for six years.