Nairobi Quaker church closed eight months amid leadership and property dispute

The leadership dispute within the Friends Church (Quakers) under Nairobi Yearly Meeting (NYM) has led to the closure of one of its prominent churches, Friends International Centre (FIC), the NYM headquarters meeting on Ngong Road in Nairobi, for eight months. The dispute pits the church secretariat against local leaders and congregants, who accuse each other of constitutional violations, abuse of power and mismanagement. When The Standard visited during a normal Sunday service, the church remained closed and was guarded by armed police. Outside the gate, a group of congregants sang and danced as they called for the sanctuary to reopen. The church leadership has branded this group a “rebel” faction, and the group said it had been denied access to the sanctuary for eight months.

At the centre of the disagreement is whether FIC may recruit and pay its pastors directly or whether all clergy should be employed and managed by the NYM secretariat. The dispute traces back to a 1992 Memorandum of Understanding, which allowed FIC to employ and pay its pastors directly, provided the secretariat took part in their vetting and recruitment. In 2012, when Agrey Mukirima was promoted to General Superintendent, Walter Bulimu, then a secretariat employee, applied for the vacancy and was appointed senior pastor after an interview. More pastors were later recruited for ministries including children, youth, women and men. According to church members, their salaries ranged from Sh90,000 to Sh130,000, well above those paid to pastors employed directly by the secretariat, and this gap became a source of tension.

The secretariat, then led by General Superintendent John Davis Webere, Deputy General Superintendent Nathan Lihanda and Administrative Secretary Moses Adika, sought to end the arrangement, arguing that clergy should operate under a common system for fairness and uniformity. Webere, who resigned last month, said in an earlier interview that the church must be governed by its constitution rather than individual interests. He said the latest phase of the conflict began in 2023, when leadership nominations at FIC allegedly failed to meet constitutional requirements, including that office holders be fully paid-up and active members. After some members disputed the nominations and petitioned the secretariat, its constitutional committee investigated and dissolved the FIC leadership. A caretaker committee was installed, and a new leadership team was nominated four months later. That team was in turn accused of rebellion after it resisted the transfer of six pastors to the secretariat and opposed raising the local monthly budget from Sh190,000 to Sh390,000. The disagreement escalated into the suspension or excommunication of pastors and the labelling of some leaders as members of a rebel faction. The pastors named in documents and accounts reviewed by The Standard are Walter Bulimu, Florence Irungu, Simone Khaemba, Gilbert Watima and Fanuel Demesi.

Congregants have accused the secretariat of applying the church constitution selectively and of using internal networks to identify dissenters. Lawrence Andove, a congregant, said members did not oppose pastors being under the yearly meeting but wanted to keep paying them directly, as they had always done. He said 35 members and six pastors were issued suspension letters and barred from church premises. The suspended members obtained a court order maintaining the status quo pending further proceedings, but Andove alleged that the secretariat disregarded the order by enforcing the suspensions and installing new leadership. Lihanda, now acting General Superintendent, rejected the view that local meetings could operate independently of the yearly meeting, saying branches could not hire staff without the head office’s knowledge. Prof David Kikaya, a senior elder at FIC, said the constitution requires local meetings to nominate their own leaders and described NYM as a coordinating body rather than a ruling one.

The dispute has also extended to church assets. In 2015 the secretariat established Quaker Investment Company Limited (QICL) to manage church assets, including land, buildings and businesses, which members estimate to be worth billions of shillings. Kikaya questioned the company’s accountability, saying it had not released audited accounts to members. One contested matter involves a five-acre parcel of land acquired by FIC, to which the secretariat allegedly sought to transfer the title deed from FIC to QICL, a move local elders opposed. Lihanda, who is also a QICL director, said church assets are held by six trustees who are constitutionally required to rotate every five years, but records seen by The Standard show the trustees had held their positions since 2015. He said all property decisions had been transparent and fully implemented.

The dispute culminated in the suspension of physical worship at FIC. Presiding Clerk Ben Simiyu said the decision was taken in February 2026 after the situation deteriorated into what he described as “chaos, anarchy and lawlessness.” He alleged that some individuals had usurped authority to run services, collected funds without authorisation and held parallel services in tents. He further alleged that members had fought inside the church and compound, threatened others, engaged in gender-based violence and poured water on worshippers during prayer, and that threats had been made against life and property, causing trauma to children. Simiyu said some individuals had attempted to break doors and force entry, and that a member had been violently assaulted and suffered severe bleeding. He said the closure was intended to prevent further confrontation, and that matters of a criminal nature had been reported to security for investigation. Simiyu also said six cases had been filed in court by members, including the suspended pastors. Four had been decided in favour of the secretariat, and two were awaiting submissions on September 28 and November 5.

Since the closure, some services have been held online. Allan Agunda, a member of FIC, said the closure had disrupted worship and church activities and that young people had gone to other churches. Some members said they had unsuccessfully sought the intervention of senior political figures associated with the church, including Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Public Service Principal Secretary Jane Imbunya. Despite the bitter dispute, Agunda said congregants were willing to talk: “If there’s anything that went wrong, we ask them to come and have a sit-down so that we solve it.” Simiyu acknowledged that several local meetings had suffered prolonged conflicts, and he issued a notice to leaders and members of Kabiro Local Meeting and their allies at Friends Church Emmanuel under Kawangware Monthly Meeting to resolve their differences within three months. Simiyu said the disputes had slowed growth in some congregations, and he cited a leadership problem at Friends Church in Thika, which he said was nearing resolution. Matching the call to reflect and reconcile with the call to peacemaking (Matthew 5:9), Simiyu said the suspension had given all parties time to reflect and seek forgiveness, and he urged members with court cases to pursue internal church mechanisms.

Simiyu said plans to reopen the sanctuary were under way but that operations would have to comply with the church constitution. He said the move would be guided by resolutions passed at the 39th Annual General Conference held at Rafiki Centre in Vikwatani. Those resolutions called for stronger mechanisms for resolving conflict through structured dialogue, a role for elders in disputes, including where local governance is absent, unable to act or delayed, and escalation of unresolved local matters to higher-level elders for consultation, mediation and action. The conference also resolved that legal cases involving the church be handled effectively, with progress communicated to the wider Quaker community.

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