Witch-hunt? Bishop writes to DCI over 'Helicopter' church woes

Bishop Thomas Wahome of the Helicopter of Christ has written a letter to various authorities demanding the Registrar of Societies be investigated for deregistering his church.

Wahome wants Maria Nyariki hounded out of office, accusing the registrar of incompetence, gross misconduct, abuse of office, abuse of power, fraud, corruption, and noncompliance with articles 10,27,47 and 50 of the Constitution. 

The Bishop is asking the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), and Public Service Commission ( PSC) to probe into the accusations levelled against Nyariki.

“We the Helicopter of Christ Church have been greatly aggrieved, disheartened and our rights to justice have been infringed and trampled upon contrary to the rule of law,” says Wahome in his letter.

Wahome maintains that his church started in 2001 strictly sticks to Christian doctrines apart from supporting street families and homeless people. 

“Further, the church also has a home for the elderly where the ageing persons are housed, fed, and clothed. The church is also engaged in rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts as well as former criminals who desire to have a new path in life,” says the preacher. 

His church is among those that were recently deregistered. They include New Prayer Centre Church owned by pastor Ezekiel Odera, Good News International Ministries belonging to pastor Paul Mackenzie, Theophilus Church and Kings Outreach Church. According to Bishop Wahome, neither did the registrar notify nor summon him before taking the action. He says they were deregistered without being given an opportunity to be heard.

“And when we inquire into the reasons for the deregistration, we are informed that the file at the registrar of societies is missing. This is most unfortunate as how can the church be condemned by her (Nyariki) without any notice being issued or even summons directing it to appear before her so as to be made aware of the developments,” he says. 

Wahome says his right to a fair trial was shunned discriminatively as to date, not even a simple letter explaining the reasons for the deregistration has been given by the registrar. 

Wahome claims as soon as the deregistration became public, some individuals approached him demanding Sh5 million to lift the cancellation.