New Life Prayer Centre Ministry, Pastor Ezekiel Odero has denied claims that his church owns a morgue where the dead were ferried from the church to the funeral home.
Speaking when he appeared before the 11-member senate ad-hoc committee formed to investigate the proliferation of churches in the country, Odero explained that the building perceived to be a mortuary is a facility which hosts transformers and power panels for the church institutions.
The pastor blamed the media for misreporting the issue, arguing that if the church owned a morgue, his more than 40,000 followers would have raised the alarm.
“Even if you could build a mortuary,my followers come from far and wide.How can you lie to someone from UK to hold his dead sister in that perceived mortuary,” said Odero.
“We don’t own a mortuary but let’s invite the media to the place to check and verify,”he remarked.
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Odero denied claims that the New Life Prayer Centre sanctuary has been hosting sick people awaiting Prayer miracles for healing.
He explained that sick people are allowed with their representatives within the church's premises.
“We don’t allow sick people without representatives that’s a rule.When sick people come we advise them to go to hospital because we don’t know the hour of death,” Odero noted.
The New Life Prayer Centre lamented that their efforts to invite investigating agencies to set the record straight on the matter has been futile.
“When we invited the investigating agencies to check they never showed up.I don’t think it can be there,” the Pastor stated.
Odero stated that a mortuary situated in Mbogolo past Mavueni in a black spot area, which has no health institutions,has been linked to his church ministry, which is erroneous.
“I think this is the reason why people connected me to it. One day I said how can one build a mortuary minus a clinic.Is it business or safe custody of the dead,”he said.
The senators seek to establish the registration status of religious institutions in the country and identify the mitigation measures to regulate them and combat extremism.
The Senate committee is expected to audit the legal and registration framework for religious organizations in the country.