A Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church elder has moved to court after a pastor was found to have had a romantic relationship with his wife.
Pastor Joshua Mbugua Njuguna of Holly Hills SDA Church in Thika is said to have had an extramarital affair with Mary Nyambura Mwaura, the wife of church elder Peter Mwaura.
In documents filed in court, Mwaura says he learned about the affair between his wife and Pastor Njuguna in December, 2019.
Pastor Njuguna and Mrs. Mwaura are said to have pleaded guilty after they were summoned by the elders of the Holly Hills SDA Church board.
In line with the church’s policies, the board recommended to the Executive Committee of the Central Kenya Conference that the two be reprimanded.
Mwaura and other church elders now accuse the Executive Committee of exonerating Pastor Njuguna and finding Mrs. Mwaura culpable for adultery.
The elders, who are the petitioners in the case, wrote protest letters to the East Africa Union Conference and Central Kenya Conference expressing a vote of no confidence in the manner in which the case was handled, saying it has put the entire SDA Congregation to ridicule and disrepute.
“…the aforesaid letter elicited no response, they instead learned that the erring pastor had been reinstated and was on active payroll of the Central Kenya Conference treasury,” read the petition filed through lawyer Danstan Omari.
Mr. Mwaura and the second petitioner, elder Ezekiel Kurunya, claim they face arrest and prosecution over allegations of defamation leveled against them by Pastor Njuguna, who they also accuse of threatening them with unspecified consequences.
The petitioners further accuse the respondents led by the East African Union Conference and the Central Kenya Conference of shielding the actions of the pastor.
“…the respondents have continued to abuse their powers by protecting erring members of the SDA church who are their cronies instead of reprimanding them as per the provisions of the Church Manual and victimizing the voices of reason within the church,” adds court papers.
The petitioners have asked the court to stop their impending prosecution as well as reverse the decision by one of the respondents to suspend one of the petitioners from employment.
