The controversial Buru Buru Church of God was yesterday ordered reopened.

High Court Judge Kasanga Mulwa ordered that the Nairobi church, closed last year, be reopened before Easter Sunday.

He directed that a cleansing ceremony be conducted before reopening, provided the two wrangling groups agree on how it should be done.

The judge said the church would be used by the two groups.

Mr Justice Mulwa was giving a ruling in an application filed by 12 members of the church seeking to stop its executive council from registering members.

They wanted the church reopened without further delay.

"When a society fails to solve its disputes within established mechanisms, it is the duty of the courts to step in," Mr Justice Mulwa said.

The church was closed last year by the provincial administration to avoid confrontation between two groups of worshippers.

The judge ordered that the registration of members stop until the church is open. He said it could only go ahead with the consent of all parties.

Mr Justice Mulwa said that if the two parties do not agree on how it should be done, they could apply for further court orders.

The 12 members, led by Mr Paul Etemesi, had named the defendants in the case as the Executive Council of the Church of God in East Africa (Kenya), the Rt Rev Dr Byrum Makokha and the Church Commission.

The parties had entered a consent order last December and agreed that the church be reopened once the order was filed in court.

The judge said the order did not provide for reregistration of members but called upon the parties to follow the church's constitution.

Trouble began in January, last year, when worshippers protested at the ex-communication of Pastor Obed Ochwanyi.

The worshippers allied to Pastor Ochwanyi vowed not to allow any other pastor to be posted by the headquarters in Vihiga to the church. They then fought with hired security men who had been installed at the church.