Pastor Ezekiel Odero Tuesday obtained an order from the High Court suspending the directive of the Registrar of Societies to deregister his church.
Odero filed a new application on Monday and resorted to withdrawing the earlier one which he had filed on August 21.
Justice Jairus Ngaah in the fresh application said upon perusal of material placed before the court in support of the application he was persuaded to exercise his discretion and allow the applicants to challenge the gazette notice dated 18 August 2023 whose purport is to deregister the society referred to as New Life Prayer Center and Church.
The judge said he allowed the suspension in a bid to interrogate whether the process leading to deregistration was consistent with the law and whether it was legal and fair to Odero.
In a Gazette notice dated August 3, the Registrar of Societies deregistered five churches.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 12 (1) of the Societies Act, the Registrar of Societies cancels the registration of the societies specified in the first column of the Schedule, with effect from the respective dates specified in the third column of the schedule,” Registrar of Societies Maria Nyariki said.
Other churches were Newlife Prayer Centre, Goodnews International Ministries, Helicopter of Christ Church, and Theophilus Church.
The church is among those under probe over claims of cultism.
Occultism has been blamed for the death of more than 400 people whose bodies were found in graves in Shakahola, Kilifi county.
Police also suspect that some of the victims did not starve to death and may have been killed and then buried on the property.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie has denied wrongdoing but has been refused bail. He insists that he shut down his church in 2019. The followers say he told them to starve themselves to “meet Jesus“.
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