Background

Background & Justification of NCC

Nairobi Station in the Central Kenya local Conference is the largest station in East Kenya Union
Conference. It is a unique constituency as its home to the great city of Nairobi. Nairobi Central SDA
Church had more than seven thousand (7,000) as per the register vide Min. 5/CBM/27.11.2016
when the church was seeking to establish a conference encompassing Nairobi and Kajiado Stations.
The business meeting had mandated the head eldership and pastorate to pursue the conference
status by caucusing with the churches of the two stations for concurrence

The Conference called the local church leaders of the two stations (Nairobi and Kajiado) for a
meeting on 7th May 2017 whose single agenda was Realignment of Central Kenya Conference.
In preparation for this meeting the head elders from Nairobi and Kajiado station churches met on
1st May 2017 at LMS Guest House and adopted the Nairobi Central Church resolution and agreed
to present the proposal at the 7th May 2017 meeting of the conference. Whereas the elders of the
two stations prepared and assumed a common stand to seek creation of a new conference covering
the two stations, the Conference meeting was mysteriously cancelled.

In the meantime, at a meeting between the CKC Executive (President, Treasurer & Secretary) and the
head elders of Nairobi Central SDA church held on 12th June 2017 to discuss the pastorate situation
in the church, the CKC President intimated that he was aware of the meeting of the Nairobi and
Kajiado stations elders and promised to grant them a hearing. That did not happen though the
realignment of the CKC is already concluded.
It is important to note that though Nairobi Station is very large both in membership and giving, it has
remained a single station while smaller stations continue to be split into many smaller units. These
are the units used during Conference elections to pick the number of delegates to the nominating
committee. It is on this election background that Nairobi has been kept as a single station despite
its contribution of about 55 percent in membership and 74 percent in giving. It is more about
creating a loyal voting machinery and not guiding more souls to the Lord.

Escalating the Scheme

The hurried posting of a new pastor, JP Maiywa, to Nairobi Central Church in June 2018 turned out
to be timing the church nominations that were around the corner. He was to finally use the exercise
to divide the elders first and subsequently the congregation along ethnic lines for the sole purpose
of placing in office a friendly eldership and church board.
This again is focusing on the 2020 church elections with compliant voting delegates. It was also
meant to divert the membership from the issue of the conference realignment. This Pastor together
with his remaining associate have continued to sow seeds of mistrust that has brought irreparable
division in the church, which has spilled over to the congregations in the Nairobi city and even
Kajiado County churches in general along tribal lines.

The local conference, as expected, failed to act and bring reconciliation and healing and instead
continued to engage in activities that continue to aggravate the situation. One is left with the
impression that this is a Machiavellian classic of divide and rule as long as that aids in scuttling the
demand for a conference for cosmopolitan Nairobi.
The creation of six (6) new stations in Mount Kenya region while Nairobi is left as one station in spite
of the fact that the later has 328 churches, 65,500 members and a total annual giving of over
Kenya Shillings 850 million through tithes, offerings and other funds, is a pointer to creating voting
blocks in that region with an eye of next year’s elections. The six new stations in Mount Kenya have
not been created to enhance mission or efficiency but rather increase delegates.