Nakuru — Police have arrested two Ugandan pastors as part of ongoing investigations into two separate incidents where members of a suspected religious cult from the neighbouring country have been found in Kenya illegally within a span of 24 hours.
This is after detectives from the Nakuru Railway Police on Wednesday intercepted 28 members of Christ Disciples Church (CDC), whose leaders on interrogation said they were heading to Isiolo County on an 'evangelism' mission.
Nakuru Town East Senior Deputy County Commissioner Mr Were Simiyu said the two would be handed over to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers for a further probe.
Mr Simiyu said the group that consisted of 7 adults and 21 children and did not have proper travel documents were nabbed in Section 58 area.
"We are interrogating their two pastors to establish whether there is a racket behind their presence in the country. The Sub-County Security Committee has resolved to repatriate the 26 to Uganda immediately," Mr Were indicated.
He went on, "They say they are on a gospel spreading mission yet all except one cannot express themselves in English or Kiswahili. Furthermore, majority are children aged as young as one year."
The administrator urged immigration officials and security personnel manning border points to tighten surveillance as persons entering the country were a potential threat to security.
"The Kenyan government will not allow them to proceed to their destination unless they provide proper and official travel documentation," stated the administrator.
Robert Ojang'ole, the only one who spoke in broken English in the group, said that they had left Eastern Uganda on Sunday.
"We are on a mission to spread the gospel to residents of Isiolo for a week and then return to Uganda. We gained entry into Kenya through the Busia border point and there are more members of our church who have preceded us to Ethiopia for the same reason," Mr Ojang'ole told journalists.
This comes barely 24 hours after police officers from Central Police Station arrested 55 Ugandan nationals suspected to be members of the religious cult.
The 29 adults and 26 minors were picked at the Nakuru main bus terminus where they were reportedly planning to board a vehicle to Nairobi enroute to Yangatom, Ethiopia for what they termed as a gospel spreading crusade. They were repatriated to Uganda after interrogation.
In March this year Ugandan Police in East Kyoga mounted a search for over 100 members of Christ Disciples Church (CDC) who have reportedly gone missing in Serere District. The sect members started disappearing in February 2023.
Ugandan police records indicate that missing sect members of Christ Disciples Church (CDC) are based in Obululun Village, Bugondo Sub County while others are from the areas of Kidetok Town Council and Olwa Village in Pingire Town Council- all in Serere District.
According to police, each missing member was asked to contribute Sh2 million Uganda shillings for processing travel papers and to provide a bag of maize flour before they vanished.
Followers consequently sold off their property such as cattle, land and other household items to raise the money. Those who met the requirements were allegedly moved by the church leadership to Ethiopia," police noted.
This comes barely a month after the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the arrival of hundreds of Ugandan nationals who are reportedly fleeing their country over doomsday fears.
Meles Alem, the Ministry's spokesperson said that the Ugandans were camping in Yangatom which borders Kenya, the same area which those intercepted in Nakuru told the police that they were destined to.
Additionally, Ugandan police are particularly hunting for the CDC sect leaders Reverend James Enyaku and Augustine Orago to help in the investigations.
"Preliminary findings indicate that the leadership of the church allegedly convinced their members that God had a plan for them to go and spread the gospel in Ethiopia, an idea many seem to have accepted- and subsequently vanished," police noted.
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"Police are working to locate the leadership of the church and to ascertain the exact whereabouts of the missing members," the report added.
This comes amid investigations into Shakahola cult leader Paul Mackenzie and controversial pastor Ezekiel Odero.
The state has linked the two, describing them as individuals who share a history of business investment, particularly the TV station previously used to pass radicalized messages to their followers.
Some of these followers, the court heard, are believed to be among the hundreds of bodies so far exhumed at the Shakahola land linked to Mackenzie.
Mr Mackenzie is being investigated over the deaths of more than 100 people, whose bodies were found in mass graves in Shakahola, Kilifi County. It is said he convinced them to starve themselves to death in order to see God.
Mr Odero is being investigated for murder, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalization, genocide, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud, money laundering and being an accessory to crimes. - Kna
