Pastor Ezekiel Odero of New Life Prayer Centre and Church on Tuesday, August 22 obtained a court order suspending the directive to deregister his church.

The registrar of Societies had on August 18, issued a notice to deregister New Life Prayer Centre and four other churches.

Pastor Ezekiel filed a new application at the High Court on August 21, after withdrawing an application he had filed earlier.

In the application, his lawyers had sought to bar the Registrar of Societies from hindering the operations of Pastor Ezekiel’s New Life Prayer Centre and Church.

While issuing the directive, the Judge explained that he wanted to examine whether due process was followed in the deregistration of the church.

The Judge was also keen on interrogating whether the deregistration of the church was within the law and whether the church was associated with activities that were contrary to the constitutional requirements.

“Upon perusal of material placed before the court in support of the application, I am persuaded to exercise my discretion and allow the applicants to challenge the gazette notice dated August 18, 2023, whose purport is to deregister the society referred to as New Life Prayer Center and Church,” stated Justice Jairus Ngaah.

Pastor Ezekiel’s church was among five churches whose registrations were canceled by the government in a crackdown on religious institutions in the country.

Other deregistered churches include Helicopter of Christ Church, Theophilus Church, Kings Outreach Church, and Goodnews International Ministries.

Goodnews International Ministries is owned by Shakahola cult leader Paul Mackenzie, associated with misleading his church members to fast to death.

So far, more than 450 bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest.