Feuding factions of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) are in fresh row after Archbishop Julius Njoroge reneged a the national church accord signed exactly two months ago to end leadership rivalry, The informer has learnt.
According to the negotiated accord signed in April this year, Njoroge was appointed as the National Leader while Archbishop Fredrick Wang’ombe was appointed to head Finances and Archbishop Samson Muthuri to take over the education and training.
“Njoroge has cancelled the accord. Even after Wang’ombe and Muthuri negotiated to have him as the spiritual leader in order to unite the church, church faithfuls have rejected him.” A senior AIPCA shepherd intimated.
The signing of the breached accord was overseen by the church chancellor Moses Kirima in Nairobi.
Effectively, the embattled church has been subjected to another round of two centers power aligned to Njoroge and Wang’ombe respectively.
The accord proposed creation of four extra archdioceses namely Rift Valley, Nairobi, Eastern and Central have been created and the leadership decentralised to avoid further feuds.
Archbishop Wang’ombe was also to be registered as trustees of AIPCA among others and appoint two members to the Central board which will only recognize one arm of leadership.
It was agreed the splinter groups be broken and instead be replaced by National Secretariat to deal with issues and burning matters of the church.
According to insiders, Njoroge’s unprecedented move is aimed at frustrating church constitutional changes agreed in the accord which, if passed would require pastors to retire at the age of 65 while Archbishops would retire at 70 years and the National spiritual leader to retire at 70 years or after serving two-five year terms.
The row heightened after former Archbishop Amos Kabuthu was forced to hand over the mantle by the High Court leading to election of two spiritual leaders to head the church.
Retired Archbishop then handed over to Wang’ombe who was elected by some of the Bishops while Njoroge was elected by a rival group early this year.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had earlier this year intervened to end the woes while Deputy President William Ruto urged clerics to focus on uniting the Church when he attended the inauguration of Archbishop Julius Njoroge Gitau at Kasarani Stadium last month.
