Father John Pesa, the founder of the Holy Ghost Coptic Church of Kenya, scored a win at the corridors of justice in a case pitting him against Kisumu County Government.
This was after the Kisumu County Government, under the leadership of Anyang’ Nyong’o, lost a petition they had filed against the pastor at Winam Law Courts.
The county had petitioned to have the Coptic Church in Kisumu demolished after accusing Pesa of detaining mentally ill patients in his church illegally.
Senior Principal Magistrate Fatuma Rashid dismissed the petition and ruled that it lacked merit.
She further indicated that the Winam Law Courts lacked the jurisdiction to determine a case of such magnitude.
According to the magistrate, the case could only be determined at a higher court since it touched on the Bill of Rights.
She noted that the detention of ill patients in a church facility was a clash between the right to religion and the right to health, all protected under the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.
“In the end, I find the application herein lacks merit for want of procedure. The application is struck out with no orders as to cost," the judge ruled.
In the petition, the county government sought the court to invoke the Public Health Act CAP 242 which outlines the prevention and suppression of diseases.
The county government appealed for the immediate demolition of the church arguing it posed dangers to persons within and outside the church.
Further, the petition requested 23 mentally ill persons detained at the church be set free and Pesa be prosecuted.
The magistrate revealed that she could not invoke the Public Health Act as the county government had unprocedural filled a sanitation report at the court.
“The sanitation report was availed after this matter was filed in court and after respondents had filed their responses. This is an irregularity that is apparent on the face of the record of the proceeding,” she ruled.
An ecstatic Pesa remarked that the court had given him and his church a new lease on life.
“These people have always soiled my name including claiming that I am trafficking human beings but the courts have spoken and now I am even inviting more people to come to Holy Ghost Coptic Church for spiritual nourishment,” he remarked.
