KISII Kenya May 23 -A Kisii court was on May 23 told how a Bishop in Nyamache, Kisii County defrauded his unsuspecting followers of over Sh5 million by purporting that he would help them relocate to the US.
Bishop Samson Obonyo of the Pentecostal Evangelical Church of Africa (PEFA) church was charged with seven counts before Magistrate Wa Kugwa Wahinya.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a bond of Sh3million.
The 60-year-old preacher however admitted that there were plans to take several young people to work abroad but the process was interrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak
Around 2020, the man of God announced in his church during a Sunday service that there were job vacancies in the USA and he had connections to help his church members relocate.
He went ahead and helped the willing followers acquire passports. He however detained these traveling documents as he claimed to complete the traveling process. During this period, he kept on demanding for more money.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he told his followers that they could not travel because of the pandemic and further advised them to go for vaccination as the waited for the international flights to resume.
Later, he invited these followers to his Nairobi home for medical tests which, surprisingly, he did himself.
He also assured them that though the process was complicated, they would get their visas as he had arranged with the US embassy.
“He told us to sell our properties and bid farewell to our families back home and travel to his city home as we wait for the flights,” one of his followers said.
They were also directed to carry with them food stuffs including bananas, maize, beans and wheat. He hosted them for a few days and later took them to a hotel where each of them was paying Sh1500 daily.
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