Prophet David Owuor’s Repentance and Holiness Ministry is caught in the eye of a property claim storm with a family in Nairobi that has accused the church of coercing Jayne Muthoni, 62, to relinquish her multi-billion shilling properties to the ministry.
Muthoni, a lawyer by profession, is one of the bishops in Owuor’s church.
The properties include Dove Court Apartments along Raphta Road in Muthangari, a posh home at Riverside Drive, and expensive vehicles used by Owuor’s bishops.
The family also claims that Owuor’s proxies had gained access into Muthoni’s bank accounts, to the extent that she cannot make transactions without the signature of one of Owuor’s representatives. The money, Muthoni’s family claims, is used to run the ministry and maintain the flashy lifestyles of the church’s bishops.
The family further alleged that Muthoni’s identify card, mobile phones and other important documents, were confiscated when she became an Owuor follower more than a decade ago.
They also claim that Muthoni’s properties were being managed by Lily Macharia, another church member who has been living at Dove Court, where the family claims their sister is being held captive.
Initially, the church had stated that Muthoni decided to handover the multi-billion shilling properties to the ministry as a gift after her son, who is in his early 20s, was prayed for and got healed of dyslexia.
But Lily later explained that Muthoni suffered memory loss and appointed her to oversee the properties and live with her at Dove Court together with other bishops. But Muthoni’s brother, Duncan Njagi, who claims to have been initially in charge of the properties, said he was shoved off by the church and Lily was appointed to replace him.
Lily also rubbished claims by some family members that she was the prophet’s wife, stating that her role was just to manage Muthoni’s properties.
She told The Nairobian that: “Bishop Muthoni has also been here for long, does that make her the prophet’s wife as well? That is nonsense and fake news. I’m here for the sake of Muthoni and nothing will change that, not even what happened here today.”
She added: “I’ve known her since 2005. Linking me to the prophet in that manner is like asking a man who works for a woman if they are married. Those are lies. I’m not his wife.” Lily said she offered to manage Muthoni’s properties when she realised she was beginning to lose her memory.
“I just came out to help her and manage the properties after she started losing her memory. She would even forget her stuff wherever she went, including her identity card and other items in the banks,” Lily added.
Apart from the apartment estimated to be worth Sh300 million, other properties under Muthoni’s care include two Mercedes Benzes, two Land Cruiser V8s, and a Toyota pickup.
“As you can see, all her logbooks are safe. I’ve never transferred anything to my name. In fact, I’ve been assisting her for free. Sometime back, she had an accountant who was demanding Sh78 million, but I blocked that from happening. “Now that all this has unfolded, we are willing and ready to hand over the logbooks and other properties to her. Not long ago, I had to bank some money that she had withdrawn without her knowledge (sic),” she added.
The family had claimed that Owuor initially lived in their sister’s palatial home along Riverside Drive, and had turned it into his private office and church headquarters. The home has a swimming pool where Owour baptised Raila Odinga in 2009.
Those in the know say the home previously belonged to former vice president George Saitoti. Muthoni, the third-born in a family of eight children, was a hardworking woman and go-getter when she was a managing partner at JM Njagi Advocates in Nairobi.
Things changed, according to her family, when she started following Prophet Owuor. Muthoni’s brother Njagi said their sister schooled at Loreto School, the University of Nairobi and then the Kenya School of Law, before her admission to the bar.
“Muthoini was very bright. She worked as a state prosecutor for around six months after university before switching to private practice around 1981,” he said.
Njagi added that his sister was committed to her job but when they lost their father, she joined Owuor’s church and cut links with the family.
Around the same time, Njagi, who had resigned from his job and was going through a divorce, claims her sister appointed him to manage the properties, among them the house in question.
“That was around 2007. Owuor was now close to Muthoni and at some point, he asked my sister to stop me from overseeing her properties since I was going through a divorce; that I might be chasing other women and that I could tarnish the altar,” he told this writer.
Njagi claims Lily was then appointed by Prophet Owour to manage the properties and thereafter blocked Muthoni’s family from accessing her and the multi-billion shilling properties.