Pastor Ezekiel Odero secured a small win after the court suspended the deregistration of his Newlife Prayer Centre Church, allowing him to resume operations for the time being.
The outspoken man of the cloth had filed a petition at the High Court seeking to have the Registrar of Societies barred from effecting the directive.
In his ruling, Justice Jairus Ngaah suspended the deregistration exercise with the aim of allowing the defendants to make submissions over the gazette notice.
Among the submissions the pastor is expected to make centers around whether the Registrar of Societies followed the law during the deregistration process.
In court filings made by his lawyer Danstan Omari, the pastor petitioned the court to quash the registrar's directive terming the deregistration of the church illegal.
His legal team argued that the church had dutifully filed tax returns.
"The gazette notice issued by (Registrar of Societies) purported that the cancellation of the applicants church was effected on the May 19, 2023, notwithstanding the fact that on the May 25, 2023, the applicants found out vide the media in a letter dated 27th April 2023 requiring the Applicants to show cause within 21 days, why his church’s registration should not be cancelled for failure to file its annual returns," read the statement in part.
"In an obvious scheme to frustrate and obstruct the Applicants operations of his church, the Applicants only became aware of the notice to show cause through media outlets, 8 days after the expiry of the intended 21-day notice."
The church in question was deregistered by the state on Friday in a move to crackdown on religious institutions.
Other churches deregistered include Helicopter of Christ Church, Theophilus Church, Kings Outreach Church and Goodnews International Ministries.
Woes against the pastor began in April when he was arrested and arraigned in court on account of conspiracy to commit crime and money laundering but he was not formally charged.
Pastor Ezekiel was, however, released on bail on May 12 after denying all the charges against him and has since maintained his innocence.
