Claims that Pastor Ezekiel Odero paid for the Senate ad hoc committee's visit to his church in Mavueni, Kilifi, on Monday have been refuted.
Pastor Ezekiel said via his solicitors that the committee called him upon his return to the church from the Senate to let him know that they would be stopping by.
Speaking in Kilifi, attorney Cliff Ombeta claimed that Ezekiel in no way aided the Senate ad hoc committee looking into the growth of religious organisations.
“Pastor Ezekiel did not pay even a single coin be it for travel, meals or anything to the committee. In fact, when we left the Senate last week, we were not aware that they would come to the church in Mavueni,” Ombeta said.
The attorney claimed that anyone may verify who purchased the committee members' airline tickets.
When he got to Mombasa, he claimed, he found out about the scheduled visit.
“When we left the Senate, we came to Kilifi to try and finalise on the approvals of a crusade the pastor has been planning. I later left for my Hotel in Mombasa. When I reached the hotel, I received a call that the Senate wanted to visit the church as part of their fact-finding mission," Ombeta said.
"We had wanted them to come so that they can see for themselves if indeed there is a mortuary or cemetery within the establishment so when they told me they want to come, we agreed.”
According to Ombeta, the group of senators they encountered in the Senate also went to the church.
“We did not ask them to come neither did we know with whom they should come. The issue of the secretariat not accompanying them has nothing to do with the pastor. The chairman and the vice were there and other committee members," the lawyer said.
"If there was any money that was paid, I would have known. You can confirm from all the transactions either from the pastor and even we lawyers and you will not see any transaction from us to the committee.”
The charges were also dismissed by the committee's chairman, Danson Mungatana, who said the pastor had not paid for them to go to his church.
He acknowledged that the secretariat was not a member of the Kilifi team.
Mungatana claimed that committee members paid for their own travel to the Mavueni church.
“We were running short of time so we decided to travel and make the claims later,” the Tana River senator said.
On Wednesday, a storm rocked the Senate over the controversial visit.
When Majority Whip Boni Khalwale asked Speaker Amason Kingi if he approved of the visit, he set up a furor.
The Kakamega senator cited House standing norms when he questioned why members didn't send a committee secretariat to record their discussions in Kilifi.
He pressed for information about the trip's financial costs, which had caused such a stir.
The chairman alleged that unnamed individuals were fighting and frustrating the committee.
Speaker Kingi stated that the issue came to his attention on Tuesday, a day after the trip, making it abundantly evident that he did not sanction the travel.
“There are matters that are better handled administratively and others handled through the plenary, this one is one such matter that should be handled administratively,” he said.
“I have already engaged the gears of our administrative offices, its being handled, but safe to say that the integrity of parliamentary process will always be withheld.”
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