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Kayole pastor pleads guilty to converting church into school


A pastor on Tuesday pleaded guilty to charges of operating an unregistered mixed/boarding secondary school on a flat in Kayole, Nairobi.

Shadrack Otieno Owala admitted to the charges before Chief Magistrate Heston Nyaga, on Tuesday at the Makadara Law Courts.

The court also heard that Owala of Christ Ambassadors Church leased the flat from Catherine Mwai to open the church but later converted it into a school without Mwai’s knowledge.

He is accused of operating the school without a license from the Ministry of Education and an approval from the Nairobi County’s public health department.

The school has 72 students and has been in operation since August. It has students in Form one, two and three.

Owala is said to have been using the ground floor of the building for classes and the first floor as dormitories for the students.

Ministry of Education and Public Health officials said in a report filed before the court that there is no separation of sleeping areas for boys and girls, no beds and and living standards of the students was terrible.

QUALIFIED TEACHERS

Prosecutor Jackie Kiso said members of public raised concerns over the issue prompting government officials to visit the school.

The school also doesn’t have water and the students told investigators that there are no books, Kiso said.

The prosecutor further said that parents have since been contacted to collect their children from the school.

Owala said he opened the school to help orphaned children and those from poor backgrounds, and that he was in the process of obtaining registration for the school.

He said parents of the children asked for help and he accepted to stay with the children.

The accused, who will be sentenced on Thursday, also claimed that he has employed qualified teachers at the school.