Church now a den of corruption, claims SDA splinter group

A worshiper outside Nairobi Central SDA Church (Maxwell) after members were locked out of a service due to leadership wrangles on August 10, 2019. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The parallel group is currently run by three directors and a supporting team of volunteers.
  • The officials are holding office on an interim basis until elections are held.
  • They have already opened bank accounts, where members have been asked to channel their tithes, instead of directing them to CKC.

Representatives of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) splinter group, Nairobi Cosmopolitan Conference (NCC), have petitioned government investigative agencies to arrest suspected corrupt officials.

They called on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to take urgent steps to restore the image of the church, which has been sullied.

Led by George Morara Simi and Kennedy Mogire, they lamented that the church had become ‘a den of corruption’.

“We are not fighting for top leadership positions but for transparency and accountability. All we want is a reorganised structure in the management of the church,” Mr Morara told the Nation.

SHAMEFUL ROT

“It is shameful that this kind of rot is happening in the church, where good morals are taught. Corrupt leaders in the church should be arrested and charged,” he said.

They accused officials of the Central Kenya Conference (CKC) of financial malpractices.

The parallel group is currently run by three directors and a supporting team of volunteers. The officials are holding office on an interim basis until elections are held.

They have already opened bank accounts, where members have been asked to channel their tithes, instead of directing them to CKC.

“I request all Adventists and good Christians to stand up and say no to corruption, both in the government and in the church. If we allow corruption in the church then morality will die,” pastor Mogire, a member of the Gekomu SDA Church in the South Kenya Conference, said.

PARALLEL SESSIONS

With this push by the splinter group, it is highly likely that the scenes witnessed at the Nairobi Central (Maxwell) and Mountain View SDA churches will be replicated in the Gusii region, where adventism is believed to be well established, after the two pastors said they will not run parallel worship sessions.

“We won’t have parallel worships because there is only one SDA,” they said.