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Category: Community News

Written by S Kamau

The Kenyan Church in the US has been in the news lately albeit for the wrong reasons. In the last few months, Kenyans in the Diaspora have been bombarded with disturbing news of Kenyan Clergy involvement in criminal activities and other malpractices, some of which have landed a number of them in jail.

Recently, Dr Anthony Mumbui Karimi, a Kenyan Pastor of Ushindi Presbyterian church in Lowell, MA., was convicted of 3 counts of sexual abuse charges by a church based tribunal. The results of the case, tried by the Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) which is a special court appointed by the 2.3 million member Presbyterian church of USA to deal with disputes within the church, has caused an outcry from members of the public who have accused a few other pastors of bad behavior contrary to the word they teach. Following the conviction, the pastor was defrocked by the Presbyterian Church. Latest reports indicate that Detectives from Lowell Police Department are investigating the former pastor for the alleged sexual abuse and misappropriation of Church Funds. Dr Karimi is expected to appear in court soon to answer the charges.

Elsewhere, a Kenyan priest in Virginia was recently jailed for 5 years and nine months after he pleaded guilty for sexually abusing an 11 year old girl. Prosecutors said the Rev. Felix Owino, 44, was drinking the night he inappropriately touched an 11-year-old girl at a friend’s house in Herndon, Va. where he had been invited as a guest.

Owino most recently served as an associate pastor at St. Paul 's parish in Weirton. Until June, he was also a faculty member in the philosophy department of Wheeling Jesuit University. The Fairfax County judge said that upon completing the sentence, the priest may face deportation back to his home country, Kenya.

In a related development, a 57 year old Kenyan Pastor has been booked by Phoenix Arizona police for allegedly sexually molesting his niece

Phoniex jail records Pastor Edward Njagi who formally pastured in Atlanta, GA., formally was recently charged with Sex Crimes. Pastor Njagi’s mug shot taken when he was being booked at the jail appears on phoenixmug.com and indicate he was charged with 001 Felony count of sexu aal abuse.

Reliable sources told KEN that the pastor had fled to Kenya following the embarrassing incident but was arrested while on a short visit to the US after authorities were alerted of his presence in the Country.

In a related development, KEN has learnt from a reliable source that last year, a Senior pastor with one of the biggest Kenyan churches in Maryland was ousted from his position following an allegations of an affair with church member’s wife. The church board learnt of the affair and fired the said clergy.

Recently, Several pastors of the Kenyan community churches in the US complained of a negative image towards them that has resulted from the aftermath of the recent sex abuse and other cases leveled against some Kenyan “bad apples”.

The cases have also brought into sharp focus the running and administration of the local Kenyan community churches with most Kenyans saying they would like to see their churches operate under some larger church governing authority which would result in more transparency and accountability at running their affairs.

Other Kenyans have questioned the validity and readiness of a few pastors to serve as spiritual leaders in some churches without knowledge or proof of when and who ordained them officially into full service ministry.

Official ordination, while not guaranteeing that a pastor will not get involved in unwanted behavior, is seen by many as a validation that a pastor has undergone the rigorous spiritual training and mandated to undertake the tough job of ministering to the spiritual needs of their flock.

As a result of the outcry, some pastors feel that they are being bundled together with the few pastors who may or keep falling into temptation and therefore pleaded with Kenyans to differentiate between those accused and the many that are still upholding and practicing the true word of God the right way, serving as role models to their congregations.

“Not all pastors are sinning out there. Most pastors are good people”, said Rev. Jeremiah Githere, a Kenyan Pastor in New Hampshire.

And as the NH pastor was speaking, our newsroom was inundated with calls from members of a Kenyan Congregation in Atlanta claiming of being woodwinked into buying a Mega Church without the requisite feasibility study. Those who spoke to KEN said that their pastor had told them that the property had been overvalued and information of the actual value withheld from him. But some members of the congregation claimed that their pastor had hoodwinked them as the Church had been foreclosed without the knowledge of the congregation. Callers claimed that the main problem emanated from was the Church management which is done unilaterally. “They never tell us what is happening,” said an irate member. Another member of the church who did not wish to be named due to the sensitive nature of the matter told KEN that the pastor had filed for bankruptcy months in advance and withheld the said information from his congregation to the last minute. “We are very bitter although most of us are not saying it as we don’t want to be in bad books with the pastor”, said the member who has been with the Church since it started in early 2005.

These issues and more that go unreported beg the question; What ails the Kenyan Church in America?