Senate Condemns Inhumane Living Conditions in 'Cult-Lke' Kisumu Church

The Senate's Ad hoc committee on the Proliferation of Religious Organization has criticized the inhuman conditions in which sick individuals are being held at the Coptic Holy Ghost Church in Kisumu. 

The committee headed by Vice Chairperson Shakilla Abdallah decried the untidy state of the rooms where the patients were detained. The committee pledged to ensure that the patients relocated from the church to the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital receive the necessary medical attention, as well as any help they may need to connect with their families. 

"We have seen the condition in which these people are being detained. These people are being treated like animals. The place is like a little Shakahola. No church is permitted to detain patients who should be in the hospital. That is why we are taking these patients with us. We are leaving the officers behind to continue surveying this place to ensure that nobody is detained here again," she said.  

The intervention followed Kisumu County Commissioner's promise to take stern action against religious institutions which set up "medical wards" and prevent people from seeking proper medical care. Engulfed in accusations of cultism, the Coptic church in Kisumu has been the subject of much controversy in recent years.

The church leader Father Pesa believes that his healing abilities have earned him the envy of many, leading to a long-standing conflict with the authorities. He has denied claims that those attending his church were being mistreated, calling it a mere attempt by his opponents to persecute him.