A criminal case brought by the Presbyterian Church of East Africa against one of its top clerics was terminated last week, ending a five-year-long battle that has had its share of controversies.
On October 17, 2017, five people were charged before a Kiambu Court with stealing Sh39.9 million from the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA).
Among those in the dock were David Gathanju, who served as the Moderator of the PCEA General Assembly between 2009 and 2015.
Mr Gathanju was charged alongside Esther Wanjiru, Peter Mwangi, Stephen Muhoro, and James Muiruri, all former employees of the church.
The charge sheet stated that on diverse dates between January 2, 2016, and June 30, 2017, at the PCEA headquarters in Nairobi's South C estate, the five conspired to steal from the church.
In the second count, they were accused of stealing Sh39.9 million, which came into their possession by virtue of their employment.
They denied the charges and were released on a Sh1 million bond each.
Before they took the plea, the defence team tried to no avail to prevail upon the prosecution to defer the matter to allow for dialogue with the church.
The defence argued that the church had mechanisms for dealing with such matters.
Lydia Maari, who was the prosecution's counsel in the case at the time, stood her ground, saying there was solid evidence to secure a conviction against the individuals.
However, barely three months later, in January 2018, the prosecution withdrew the case against Ms Wanjiru and Mr Muhoro, saying there was no documentation to support the charges.
The charges against the remaining three would in March 2019 be enhanced, and they were now charged with stealing Sh50.9 million.
The case has been characterised by numerous adjournments, mentions, and hearing dates.
In October 2020, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) filed an application seeking to withdraw the theft case against Mr Gathanju and his co-accused, saying the complainant in the case, Rev Peter Kania, had since died.
However, then Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Stella Atambo dismissed the application, saying the prosecution had failed to convince the court to allow the plea.
The magistrate said the death of the complainant, who was also a witness in the case, was not reasonable grounds to withdraw the suit.
Dissatisfied with her ruling, the State moved to the High Court in Kiambu, seeking a revision of the judgment issued by Ms Atambo.
However, Kiambu High Court Judge Mary Kasango in May this year declined to set aside the ruling by the lower court and agreed with the accused that the case should continue.
When the case came up for hearing on September 3, the prosecution counsel, Sammy Muriuki, told the court that the DPP had received communication from the church to have the matter withdrawn.
The church’s lawyer, Grace Gichuhi, told the court that the church wished the matter to be closed “in totality”.
Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Kibet Sambu acquitted the accused under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code, marking the end of a case lodged in court five years ago.
The case has had 31 mentions and 31 hearing dates. The case was successfully heard on only four occasions, culminating in only one witness testifying.
Only the church accountant, Jane Mwihaki, testified in the case. Other witnesses lined up included Alfred Kanga and Amon Nderi, the former Deputy Secretary General and former Honorary Treasurer of the church’s General Assembly respectively.
Lydia Muthoni, the manager of Sweet Lake Resort in Naivasha, and Maina Kenya, the church’s auditor, were also on the witness list.
The case was also not without drama. During a heated debate in one of the court sessions, details emerged that the complainant had authorised the transfer of funds which was the bone of contention in the case.
A statement by the then Equity Bank Nairobi West Branch manager, Chebet Rotich, tabled in court indicated that before effecting any transfers from one account to another, the manager would call Mr Kania to confirm whether the church management had sectioned such transactions.
Ms Chebet added that in Mr Kania’s absence, she would call Amon Nderi, the treasurer, to confirm the transactions.
She added that she would call the duo using the bank’s landline number, which is also used to verify the signatories on the transfer of funds.
In her statement, Ms Chebet recalled that in June 2017, Mr Kania informed her that he had learned that the money normally collected by Mr Mwangi, who was a signatory to some of the accounts, was being stolen.
She said Mr Kania told her that he had tried to reach Mr Mwangi to no avail. He asked to see an application form for funds transfer to tracing where the money was being transferred to.
In her statement, the manager said she asked Mr Kania about the calls she usually made to him as a mandatory signatory to the PAYE (pay as you earn tax) account since he had stated that he sometimes signed the application forms for funds transfer in a hurry.
“Rev Kania agreed the calls were made to him and that he should be given time to sort things out,” she said.
She said that usually, after confirming that everything was in order, she would authorise the transfer and then leave the teller to effect the transaction.
A civil suit against Mr Gathanju, Mr Mwangi, and Mr Muiruri that the church had lodged in the Milimani law courts was also recently dismissed.
The trio was sued in April 2019 for allegedly failing to pay Sh9.6 million, which they owed the church.
The Registered Trustees of the PCEA had sued the three for failing to pay back the money despite admitting that they owed the church.
Milimani Commercial Court Principal Magistrate S.A. Opande, in his ruling dated September 22, 2022, said he had dismissed the case for want of prosecution.
Mr Gathanju told the Nation that he is happy that justice had prevailed.
“I have been waiting for justice to prevail. My conscience has always been very clear that I have never stolen. The case brought me a lot of psychological torture and ruined my reputation. It also consumed a lot of resources,” he said.
The cleric said he is consulting with his lawyers to decide on the next move. By Kamau Maichuhie, Daily Nation
The death toll from floods triggered by heavy rain in South Sudan has risen to 62, a UN health body representative said Wednesday.
The fatalities have been rising since the start of the rainy season in April, said Dr. Fabian Ndenzako, World Health Organization's South Sudan representative.
Severe flooding has also caused damage to 52 health facilities, he said at an event in the capital Juba.
He said months of heavy rainfall and rampant flooding have taken a toll on healthcare systems in the country, sparking outbreaks of cholera and measles.
“South Sudan has been facing flooding in over 30 counties since 2019, and currently more than 630,000 people have been affected by flooding in nine counties,” said Ndenzako.
“There are also internally displaced people (IDPs) that have been displaced because of water and of course conflict as well, and in Jonglei state you can’t travel to another county without flying by plane,” he said.
The worst-affected states are Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrap, Unity and Western Equatoria, said the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Tuesday.
“Reportedly, the floods destroyed livestock and crops, washed away roads and bridges, destroyed homes, schools and health facilities, and submerged boreholes and latrines thereby contaminating water sources and risking outbreaks of waterborne diseases,” the UN agency said in a statement.
Dut Majokdit, chairperson of the country's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, said 65,000 farmlands have submerged in water and people drinking contaminated water are dying of malaria. - Benjamin Takpiny, Anadolu Agency
A man who refused to reverse Sh56,100 erroneously sent to him via M-Pesa pleaded guilty to theft charges after he was charged with stealing the cash on September 11.
Bernard Njue Njeru was charged with stealing the money contrary to Section 268 of the penal code as read with Section 275 of the same code.
He admitted the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Mary Njagi of Makadara Law Courts.
Njeru admitted to stealing the cash from Mohamed Abdulahi after receiving the cash at an unknown place in Kenya.
Abdulahi had mistakenly transferred the money to Njeru’s phone number from his bank account and upon calling both the bank and Safaricom to reverse the transaction, he was told the reversal could not be effected since the money had already been withdrawn.
The complainant later met the accused person who he knew well near the Eastleigh North police station where he raised an alarm and Njeru was apprehended and taken to the station.
The phone that he was using when he received the cash was recovered from him and kept as an exhibit.
The case will be mentioned on September 18 when the facts of the case will be read out in court for the suspect. By Joseph Ndunda, Daily Nation
Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development
Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa has maintained that a ban on exporting unprocessed minerals, which was instituted in 2015, still stands.
In February 2015, President Museveni imposed a moratorium on the export of unprocessed iron ore and other minerals.
Ms Nankabirwa explained that the ban is intended to promote growth of local industries, which in turn create employment.
“For so many years, we have been hearing about people involved in the mines but we cannot see the products that have come out of the minerals. This time round, we are saying that we are putting a ban on exportation of our minerals, which are not processed to a required percentage,” she said on Tuesday.
“We are encouraging investors to come and invest in refineries for the minerals, like they have done for gold. We want to see many more refineries being done in Uganda so that we can give job opportunities to our people, in addition to promoting technology transfer,” she added.
The minister said this while addressing participants at the 11th annual mineral wealth conference held in Kampala yesterday under the theme, ‘Positioning Uganda’s mineral sector for green energy revolution.’
Mining companies have been urging the government to lift the ban on grounds that Uganda does not have the processing capacity for all of its ore. Some mining companies have even threatened to suspend operations entirely since the bulk of their revenue comes from the export of semi-processed minerals, especially gold.
Last year, the State Minister for Minerals, Mr Peter Lokeris, said government would review the ban and introduce exceptions, admitting that several minerals cannot be easily processed beyond a certain level in Uganda.
However, Ms Nankabirwa yesterday said the minerals must be processed up to the required percentage.
“We would like to see an integration of our minerals subsector supporting oil and gas sub-sector.
She also said companies involved in mineral exploration should not only enrich themselves, but also help communities in their areas of operation to get out of poverty.
The chief executive officer of Rwenzori Rare Metals, Mr Warren Tregurtha, said since Uganda does not exist on the global list of mineral investment destinations, more publicity needs to be done on availability of minerals in the country.
Ms Agnes Alaba, the acting Director of the Department of Geological Survey and Mines, said Uganda hosts a number of critical minerals that are required for transition to a green economy. She said they include Copper, Cobalt, lithium, and nickel manganese, among others.
Government backs out of Eskom contract
At the same meeting, Minister Nankabirwa confirmed that government would not extend the contract of South African energy company Eskom, which is expected to end next year.
In 2002, government entered into a concession with Eskom to operate and maintain Nalubaale and Kira dams.
Under the concession, negotiations for a renewal had been expected to take place within three years to the end of the concession, which currently has a few months left.
But Ms Nankabirwa said Uganda would give opportunity to Ugandan companies to take over the work that Eskom has been doing. By Jane Nafula, Daily Monitor
Brussels has been working for several months on a support plan for the army in DR Congo.
A €20m package allocated via the European Peace Facility is in the pipeline to supply the Congolese military with non-lethal equipment.
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