BY SAM ALFAN.
The Director of Criminal Investigations has opposed a bid by controversial preacher Ezekiel Odero to reopen New Life Prayer Center in Mavueni Township in Kilifi.
The church was closed as police probe possible links between Pastor Odera and Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who is in custody after police retrieved more than 100 bodies in mass grave from a land in Shakahola where the later operates a church.
Police Inspector Leonce Sombo told the court that the church which Odero purchased from Pastor Mackenzie is connected to the deaths of innocent and vulnerable Kenyans at Shakahola. The police said the church should remain closed pending conclusion of the probe.
Sleuth adds that the orders being sought by Ezekiel are ambiguous and if issued are likely to interfere the Director of Public Prosecutions power to direct investigation under Article 157(4) of the Constitution.
The police officer also said the petition contravenes the express provisions of Article 157 (6) (a) of the Constitution to the extent that they seek to fetter the Director of Public Prosecutions power to institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any person before any court.
He added that Director of Criminal Investigations does not require the consent of any person or authority for the commencement of criminal proceedings and in exercise of his or her powers and functions.
Sombo said the DCI does not require the consent of any person or authority for the commencement of criminal proceedings and in exercise of his or her powers and functions and the grant of the orders sought will have the unintended effect of placing the Director of Public Prosecution in a situation where he will require the authority or consent of court to exercise his power and functions; which is contrary to the law.
He said he is undertaking investigations relating to serious crimes that Odero is alleged to have been involved in or conspired to commit.
The offences include murder, aiding suicide, abduction, money laundering and for being accessories before or after the fact.
“There is credible information that several deaths occurred within the precincts of New Life Center and Church at Mavueni and were reported at Kilifi Police Station between the year 2022 and 2023 vide the following 0B Numbers and therefore giving credence to the investigations I am undertaking, of the deaths at the said church precincts,” investigating officer told the court.
The officer told the court that in collaboration with other investigative teams, they have collected several burial permits that were issued to several individuals whose names and telephone numbers have been disclosed in those records.
However, he hold reasonable apprehension that the respondent may interfere with the individuals now regarded as potential witnesses before investigators find out whether the subject bodies were released to their kin for interment or buried at Shakahola as suspected..
“There is credible information linking the bodies from the 800 acres piece of land situated in Shakahola ( associated with Paul Mackenzie and his accomplices) with several innocent and vulnerable followers of his ministry believed to have met their death in their quest for divine intervention from Odero, which information has triggered police investigations,” officer told the court.
Sombo said probes conducted reveals that upon demise of the innocent and vulnerable followers of Odero, their bodies were preserved at a privately run morgue in Kilifi before being transported and interred in the Shakahola Forest.
“This information is the subject of ongoing investigations and there is need to establish whether there are more dealings between the Peand the said pastor Paul Mackenzie bordering on money laundering,” the officer said.
He adds that the crimes under investigations are serious and it was in public interest for the access to the New Life Prayer Center in to remain closed, pending conclusion of the investigations.
The investigator denied that police officers did not forcefully evict or chase worshipers from the church.
