This archive report was first published on 15 August 2019.
On August 15, 2019, a press conference was convened by a splinter group at the Nairobi Central SDA Church, where they tabled documents claiming proof of attempts to sell Sh200 million land belonging to the church.
The group, led by Chairman Sammy Masara, accused the church pastor and officials of the Central Kenya Conference (CKC) of purporting to excommunicate 15 members, claiming those targeted had thwarted plans to dispose a Sh200 million plot in Nairobi.
According to the documents provided, the church owns parcels of land in various locations, including Nairobi's Lavington, Makadara, Kileleshwa, and Kilimani, as well as in Kangundo, Malindi, Nyeri, Matasia, and the Coast.
Mr. Masara, who described himself as the caretaker leader of the newly formed Nairobi Cosmopolitan Conference (NCC), attributed the chaos witnessed in the church to next year's church elections.
He claimed that in 2015, church delegates approved a plan to divide the CKC into three, but church leaders later avoided that and instead created one conference and one field.
CKC officials, led by President John Kiragu Ngunyi, dismissed the group associated with NCC and accused its members of orchestrating the chaos that led to the closure of the church last Saturday.
