BY SAM ALFAN.
New Life prayer Centre & church pastor Ezekiel Odero now wants the Magistrate Court to review orders that froze his accounts and allow him to withdraw 50 million shillings to enable him run his ministry and school.
In a fresh application filed before Milimani Magistrate Court, Odero also wants the court to review orders freezing his bank accounts from 30 days to 15 days.
Through lawyers Danstan Omari and Shadrack Wambui, Odero claims the freezing of the said accounts has caused financial and logistical hardship to the operations of the school and his ministry New Life prayer Centre & church and Kilifi International School.
He said the church operates from Tuesday to Sunday receiving over 5,000 worshipers who requires to eat and drink.
“The bank accounts serve as a lifeline for numerous disadvantaged individuals, and the act of closing them would unduly burden these individuals, condemning them to endure significant hardships and struggles,” he says in court documents.
It is his case that the orders prohibiting transactions of his accounts were obtained without the necessary transparency, as the court was not fully apprised of the ongoing litigation in Mombasa.
The Magistrate court issued orders on May 8 freezing 28 accounts belonging to Ezekiel, his church and his school.
In the new application, Odero argues that the cash flow issues occasioned by the freezing of the accounts is causing a negative impact on the workers and students associated with New Life Prayer Centre & church and Kilifi international school.
The preacher says that the bank accounts serve as a lifeline for numerous disadvantaged individuals, and the act of closing them would unduly burden these individuals, condemning them to endure significant hardships and struggles.
“The bank accounts play an indispensable role in providing assistance to children, the underprivileged, and facilitating the smooth functioning of the church. Imposing a thirty-day closure on these accounts is highly impractical, as it would leave a multitude of dependents destitute and without necessary support,” he says in court documents.
He says he will suffer substantial loss if the orders he is seeking are not granted as the scales of justice tilts heavily in favor of the grant of the injunctive orders to afford him an opportunity to ventilate his grievances to the court.
On Monday, Mombasa High court Odero’s applications seeking the re-opening of his Times TV station, and quashing of orders issued by Milimani court freezing his 28 bank accounts.
Mombasa High Court judge Olga Sewe dismissed the said applications saying the Pastor had not exploited other administrative avenues.
Justice Sewe noted that her court would restrain herself from commenting on orders issued by the Milimani chief magistrates court since orders that were being sought by the petitioner (Ezekiel), ought to be challenged by a way of revision.
“The matter before Nairobi ought to have been placed before a Nairobi high court since there is a High court supervisory Jurisdiction of the chief magistrate court that would ensure fair administration of justice,” she ruled.
He was preaching at Maximum Miracle center today.
