Warring AIPCA parties head to court

What you need to know:

  • State House has been leading the dialogue amongst the three archbishops Julius Njoroge, Samson Muthuri and Fredrick Wang’ombe who have been embroiled in leadership wrangles for two years.

The troubled leadership of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa is heading to court after peace talks led by State House failed for the third time.

According to an archbishop who leads one of the three factions of AIPCA, the talks failed after some of the parties snubbed the meeting.

Archbishop Julius Njoroge said the talks have been going on for six months but have not borne fruit as factions have been employing delay tactics to stall dialogue.

State House has been leading the dialogue amongst the three archbishops Julius Njoroge, Samson Muthuri and Fredrick Wang’ombe who have been embroiled in leadership wrangles for two years.

According to Archbishop Njoroge, the State House appointed retired bishops Lewis Emathew and Peter Njenga from Methodist Church and the Anglican Church respectively and the State House comptroller who was appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to spearhead the reconciliation process.

The archbishop announced that since the talks have flopped thrice, his faction will no longer engage in dialogue any more but will seek justice in a court of law.

Speaking at Kandara during the induction and the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected chairpersons of the church, the archbishop accused his rivals of stalling.

“There was a time we agreed on establishing a post of a national archbishop and dividing the church into three main archdioceses to be led by the three archbishops only for the elders to overturn the decision.

“When we went back to the negotiations table, one of the conflicting archbishop sought for more time and [that is when I decided] to seek arbitration in court,” he said.

Mr Njoroge said he has instructed the church lawyer to forward his documents to the Registrar of Societies pending filing of the case.

“The church and the world should know that the AIPCA is not engaged in talks and we shall wait the decision of the court,” he said.