Drama ensued at the Imara Daima Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church on Saturday, December 25, after congregants were denied entry to the church premises.
Consequently, the congregants were forced to conduct a service outside the church compound even as they protested the mismanagement of funds by the church leadership.
While addressing the press after their makeshift service, the congregants accused the pastor of withdrawing all the funds from the church bank accounts.
They demanded that the pastor, who was to hold his farewell party during the service, refund the contributions that they had made during his tenure.
Some of the congregants added that the church building was taking years to complete despite their efforts to raise money for the project every week. They added that some of the materials had not been purchased despite money having been allocated for the building.
"The church building here is substandard and it is not because that there are no congregants. We do make contributions every weekend. Every Saturday we do make contributions. However, when the time comes for the church building to be renovated, we are told that the money is not there.
"When you look at the items that have been bought, you only find a few of them. From our own calculations, it shows that the management of money is not proper," one of the congregants lamented.
Additionally, the faithful protested the running of the church school stating that many of the residents have been lockout of admission because of the high school fees.
"We started the school in 2004 and since it began they charge the parents a lot and this money does not get into the church accounts. The money is being diverted to other people’s personal accounts," another congregant stated.
Amidst the calls for the change in leadership, other congregants demanded the school to be closed arguing that it was not benefitting the members.
"The solution that we now have is that this school should be closed so that we know that we don’t have a school. This school was started to help those who were living in the slums.
"The school has now become expensive and we cannot afford it. Sometimes when you go and ask for admission, you are turned back," the congregant lamented.
