Nairobi County Commissioner closes Central SDA indefinitely

Nairobi County Commissioner Flora Mworoa has ordered the immediate closure of Central SDA Church, which is embroiled in a bitter leadership dispute.

Addressing journalists at her Nyayo House office in Nairobi on Saturday, August 10, Ms Mworoa said the church will only be reopened for fellowship after the wrangling factions resolve their differences.

Hundreds of worshippers at the Central SDA Church were on Saturday morning directed to attend fellowship at St. George’s Girls’ High School in Hurlingham after the leadership of the church failed to resolve their conflict that has spanned two weeks now.

The Central Kenya Conference (CKC) leadership has come under sharp criticism by a bulk of the Central SDA worshippers over claims that it is not representative of the church’s population.

There are allegations that the CKC leadership is largely dominated by members of Central Kenya communities, who, a huge population of the church says, “do not form a large number of worshippers at Central SDA”.

According to a faction of pastors and elders calling for leadership overhaul at the church, a large population of the congregants are from communities from the Nyanza region, but when they present their candidacy for leadership positions, “they end up being trounced by their Central Kenya counterparts, who ferry in voters to boost their chances of winning”.

CKC leaders often get mouth-watering benefits, including their children’s school fees being footed by the church. The church’s top crop are also entitled to annual overseas vacation catered for by the church. Their monthly house rent is also footed by the church, among other allowances.

CKC leadership, which oversees management and administrative duties of all SDA churches in Kenya, currently has approximately 15 people.

A few months ago, church members conducted their annual election to vote in their new CKC representatives. The outcome of that poll, is what has culminated into the current leadership wrangles being witnessed.

Recently, the new elected leaders ordered for policy changes in the church, a move that did not receive a majority endorsement by the church membership, sparking the now-witnessed chaos.

“The current CKC leaders ferried in non-SDA members who voted for them. They, as a result, won. But, now we have realised that the polls were fraudulent, and we do not want them to speak on our behalf. We also do not want to support their lifestyles,” a Central SDA member, who spoke in confidence, told K24 Digital.

CKC president John Kiragu Ngunyi, however, says at least 15 people “who do not belong to the SDA faith” are responsible for the chaos at Central Church”.

In an August 7, 2019 letter, Kiragu “strongly advises the congregants not to entertain or give the 15 audience in any of the SDA churches”.

Due to legal implication, K24 Digital cannot publish the names of the 15.

On Saturday, August 10, police were deployed to man the Central SDA Church in a bid to prevent chaos from erupting.

The CKC leadership is also accused of misappropriating Ksh25 million meant for acquisition of land, which a new a new conference was planned to be built on.

The CKC leadership, which deploys pastors to minister in different parts of Kenya is also accused of sending preachers who are not from Central Kenya to hardship-prone regions.

These claims, CKC president, John Kiragu Ngunyi, vehemently denies.

For the second week running, members of Central SDA Church have been forced to seek fellowship services in other affiliate churches in Nairobi.

It remains unknown how long this leadership impasse will last.