20 Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG), have taken their church's board of trustees to court over a multi-million retirement scheme.
Their Preachers Retirement Benefits Scheme is at the heart of the feud, with a report shared by the Daily Nation on Wednesday, March 25, revealing that the pastors had filed a lawsuit at the Milimani Law Courts.
Through their lawyer John Khaminwa, the pastors claim that they have been making monthly contributions to the scheme from their salaries, adding that their contributions are part of the benefits of employment.
Reverend Humphrey Goren, led the pastors as they protested over mismanagement of their hard-earned pension fund which is managed by Reverend Nathan Ondego.
“Reverend Nathan Ondego and James Ogendi are using the accounts as their personal piggy banks,
If not restrained, the assets of the scheme will be wasted and will cause the petitioners to suffer a great irretrievable loss,” Reverend Goren states in his supporting affidavit.
The irate pastors went on to list 11 respondents, among the board of trustees, the church’s executive caretaker committee, the Attorney-General, the registrar of societies and the National Police Service.
According to details of their joint lawsuit, the pastors are seeking orders to bar the two reverends from accessing any of the properties pending the hearing and determination of the case.
In addition, the group of pastors want the respondents listed in their suit to be prevented from entering the church headquarters in Nyang'ori, Vihiga County.
Khaminwa also revealed that the pastors were demanding that the bank statements and deposit slips relating to the scheme be released and availed to each of them for scrutiny.
The case is set to be mentioned on March 26, before the duty judge at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, however, this is yet to be clarified as
The Judiciary on Tuesday, March 24, announced that it was sending all its employees home following the Coronavirus outbreak.
Making the announcement, Chief Registrar Anne Atieno Amadi, announced that moving forward, all urgent matters would be handled on email.
