Appeals court blocks Pastor Ezekiel Odero’s bid to reinstate church license

Pastor Ezekiel Odero of Kilifi's New Life Prayer Centre and Church (NPCC) has suffered a blow after the Court of Appeal declined to suspend a decision that would see it deregistered.

The decision has effectively halted Odero's efforts to have his church's operating license reinstated, following its cancellation last year due to legal non-compliance.

The case stems from a move by the Registrar of Societies to cancel NPCC's license after the church allegedly failed to file its annual returns by the required deadline on April 13, 2023.

Despite being notified in writing on May 18 that its registration had been cancelled, NPCC and its officials sought to challenge the decision in court.

Pastor Odero moved to the Court of Appeal after the High Court, through Judge Jairus Ngaah, dismissed his bid to challenge the registrar's action.

Odero sought to suspend the High Court ruling and requested that his church's deregistration be put on hold pending the hearing and determination of an intended appeal.

However, the appellate court, in a ruling delivered by Justices Daniel Musinga, Kathurima Minoti and M. Gachoka, on Tuesday dismissed his application.

The court emphasised that Odero and his church officials had not exhausted the available dispute resolution mechanisms before resorting to legal action.

“A party must first invoke the dispute resolution mechanisms before moving to the High Court,” the appellate judges said, siding with Justice Ngaah's earlier ruling.

According to court records, NPCC's non-compliance with filing its annual returns triggered the legal battle.

The appellate judges agreed with the Registrar of Societies that Odero’s church should have first appealed the decision to the Cabinet secretary responsible. If unsatisfied with the CS’s decision, they would then have had the option to lodge a second appeal with the High Court.

Justice Ngaah had also noted that while Section 9 of the Fair Administrative Action Act allows the High Court to exempt a party from dispute resolution, NPCC neither applied for such an exemption nor did it provide any exceptional circumstances to justify bypassing the prescribed mechanisms.

“In light of the consistent decisions of this court and the Supreme Court that a party must first invoke the dispute resolution mechanisms provided by the law before resorting to the High Court or courts of equal status, we are satisfied that the intended appeal is not arguable,” the court ruled.