I want my church job back — ACK bishop fired over homosexuality allegations tells court

As an archdeacon of the Anglican Church of Kenya Mt Kenya West Diocese, John Njogu Gachau was a very popular and revered man in the diocese. He was fondly referred to as father and was a mentor to the lay members and some of the young clergy.

He was a man who practised what he preached, literally. He followed the Bible as his guiding light and abided by each and every teaching.

Among the verses he is familiar with is Leviticus Chapter 18 verse 22 which clearly states “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” and continues in Chapter 20 verse 13 to say “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination...”

As the second highest ranking official in the church when he was summoned by Bishop Kagunda on August 20, 2015 for a meeting at St Peter’s Cathedral Church, Nyeri he expected to discuss pertinent issues affecting the church.

Instead when he arrived he was directed to wait outside as he was the subject of discussion.

As he waited, he was catching up with three other cleric friends, James Maina Maigua, Simon Wanarua Kiige, and Paul Mwangi Warui, all of whom had been summoned to “meet the bishop”.

However, one after the other they were called into the room and later left in a huff as he remained jittery in his seat. Finally when his turn arrived he discovered that it wasn’t just a meeting but a 10 man tribunal set up to probe him for homosexual behaviour.

Archdeacon John Njogu Gachau was brought before his accuser, Edward Karanja Irungu, a 20 year old former evangelist at St Andrew Anglican Church Kagongo Parish in Othaya.

He was accused of luring Irungu, innocent and defenceless, into his bedroom with the promise of food and watching videos.

However, at night the archdeacon invited the young evangelist into his bed and had continuous gay sex with him from 10 pm in the night till 3 am.

The tribunal also accused the amorous priest of continuing with the relationship for three months until Irungu decided to leave the parish to pursue other interests.

While facing the tribunal that would go on to find him guilty of being gay, Archdeacon John Gachau was allegedly told to accept the charges and go away quietly or deny and the allegations would be made public.

Opting to maintain his innocence, he would later receive a letter signed by the Mt Kenya West Diocese bishop Joseph Kagunda informing him that his licence to officiate had been revoked. An unceremonious end to an 18 year career as a reverend with ACK.

Another three junior clerics were also kicked out of the church in the gay sex scandal that rocked the Mt Kenya West diocese in August last year.

The church questioned the kind of mentorship that Archdeacon Gachau gave James Maina Maigua, Simon Wanarua Kiige, Paul Mwangi Warui judging from the frequent visits they made to his house, at night

The three were all excommunicated from the church for acting in an unclergy-like manner “watching videos” with Gachau in his bedroom at unquestionable hours.

The disgraced clerics told a packed Nyeri court that had a curious crowd gathering to catch a glimpse of the ‘shepherds” that were leading their flock to Canaan but were themselves on an excursion in the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah.

On Wednesday Gachau accused Bishop Joseph Kagondu of instigating the accusation to cleanse the diocese of any potential rivals.

The four are now seeking the court’s intervention to return to their calling of guiding the flock after appeals to the church tribunal that damned them were ignored.