Pastor asks court to stop church's new constitution

Wrangles have rocked the Kenya Assemblies of God (KAG) church over plans to change the constitution.

A pastor has moved to court to stop a delegate’s conference scheduled for Monday to ratify the new constitution, which changes the leadership structure.

Rev David Njiru Kamau, an associate pastor who heads the Kahawa West branch, claims the proposed constitution, passed in November last year, was illegal since it was pushed by a few members of the clergy without consulting church members.

“The church leaders lied to us that they were only seeking to amend six clauses of the constitution, but we have realised they have amended 45 clauses to change the church doctrines and its leadership structure,” says Kamau.

He has sued the General Superintendent Philip Kitoto Sabwa, General Secretary Rev Charles Owuor, General Treasurer Rev Stephen Kuria Kiarie and the Registrar of Societies.

Through lawyer John Kimathi, the pastor wants the registrar stopped from approving the constitution.

Kamau accuses the registrar of allowing the church leadership to amend the constitution when several church members and a section of the clergy had raised objections.

“On November 5, 2021, the Registrar of Societies, in total breach of the law, rendered a biased, irrational, improper, and unfair decision to ratify amendments to the church constitution despite the objections raised,” he argues.

Kimathi says the church’s top leadership has planned a special general meeting on the basis of the amended constitution, which would result in key resolutions on church leadership and management against the wishes of some of its members.

He notes that the dispute started when Kitoto instituted a committee to review their constitution by visiting pastors and other church leaders across the country to collect their views.

“The process was flawed from the beginning since the church leader did not seek the consent of other pastors and the committee was not inclusive of all stakeholders,” he says.

After some pastors and regional church leaders raised concerns, he submits, the general superintendant promised to only amend six sections of the constitution, for which they were asked to give their views.

Kimathi told the court that despite the assurance, Kitoto and the committee sneaked in several amendments, which were not part of the proposals agreed upon by the Special General Council and the National Executive Committee.

“The process of passing the constitutional amendment without complying with the requisite policies and without affording church members opportunity to participate in the process was irrational, illegal, and done in bad faith,” says Kimathi.

He added that the Registrar of Society’s decision to accept and endorse the new constitution sets a bad precedent on managing church affairs and is likely to disenfranchise several church members should the special general meeting take place.