BY SAM ALFAN.
The High Court has blocked any elections at Methodist Church in Kenya dealing a blow to a rival group that sought to replace the presiding Bishop Joseph Ntombura.
High Court judge Asenath Ongeri issued the order stopping the Connexional Transition Ad-Hoc Committee (CTAC) from conducting any form of elections for the position.
The judge blocked the committee from usurping any mandate of Bishop Ntombura and the conference standing committee of the Church, pending the hearing of a case filed in court.
Ntombura who has led the church for the past 12 years was removed from office on March 29 by the said committee which was also planning to oversee the election of a new head of the church.
But through lawyer Danstan Omari, Ntombura challenged his ouster while accusing the ad-hoc committee through one Fredrick Kimathi Muriungi of mobilizing for his ouster.
He accused Muriungi and his affiliates of inciting the congregation who showed up at the Methodist Church in Kenya Headquarters on March 29, in a bid to overthrow him from the office
Bishop Ntombura argues that the said meeting of the 29th March has since paralyzed him from discharging his mandate and duly operation and running of the Methodist Church in Kenya.
He accuses the said committee of issuing threats in the past few days portraying clear rivalry between themselves and him as a member of the Trustee Registered Methodist Church and the current lawful presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church in Kenya.
“The Respondent, his associates and affiliates, are planning to carry out elections of another presiding Bishop within this week, without them following the laid down procedures of the Methodist Church as per the Methodist Church Constitution and the Standing Orders,” he stated in court documents.
Justice Ongeri directed the matter to be heard on May 9.
