Top city bishop caught up in alleged scandal involving a married woman

Filings before the chief magistrate’s court at Milimani, Nairobi, have laid bare a dispute between a bishop and a long-serving church member who has accused the clergyman of having a secret affair with his wife.

While it is  the Bishop who moved to court, suing for defamation and orders to bar the member from publishing malicious statements against him, it is the respondent who has accused the bishop of committing adultery with his wife.

The Bishops presides over a church based in  the city, and has presence in Ruaka, Diani, Nairobi, Kisumu and with sister congregations in Berlin, Germany and New Jersey in the US.

He sued the church member for defamation, saying the man published or caused to be published false, malicious and defamatory statements to injure his reputation.

“I am a renowned and respected religious leader with both local and international repute," the Bishop says  in his affidavits.

The man who has been sued by the Bishop, who we have codenamed JJ, says he discovered the secret affair between his wife and the bishop in October 2025 when he found a series of inappropriate text messages exchanged between the two.

He claims he got the messages in a mobile phone that was previously being used by the wife before it was handed over to their daughter.

JJ says the expressions in the messages were personal and familiar in a manner that is wholly inconsistent with a proper episcopal relationship.

“They included declarations of affection, statements of personal need for her presence and messages with suggestive undertones,” JJ says in his replying affidavit.

He claims the bishop at one time sent the wife a message telling her, “Tomorrow, we’re showering in the office. It’s you and me. It’s why I need you in my life.”

JJ says the messages were often accompanied by winking emojis.

When the matter came up in court for directions on Wednesday, magistrate Martin Osano called for decorum between the parties, urging for reconciliation even as the case progresses.

“Talk to your clients to maintain peace and decorum. They are people we look forward to in society,” the magistrate told lawyers representing both parties.

He directed that the Bishop files his further affidavits in 14 days before the same can be responded to by JJ ahead of June 16, when the court will give further directions on the matter.

JJ had asked the court to stop the bishop from blocking him from worshipping at the church. At the same time, the bishop wanted orders barring JJ from further publishing any malicious statements about him.

“Let the status quo remain for now. The court will deal with all the applications at once,” the magistrate directed.

In the Bishop's affidavits, the woman at the centre of the dispute has denied allegations of infidelity, saying her marriage has often been mired in conflict and abuse.

Excerpts filed as exhibits by the Bishop show the woman addressing a church WhatsApp group where she regrets the “indecent and inappropriate” discussion of her marriage in public.

“Allow me to put in my voice in the same space against my wish. I wish to state that my marriage is in trouble, not on account of infidelity on my part,” the filing says.

She alleges that her departure from the family home followed years of alleged conflict and abuse. She says she left “in search of peace and quiet after enduring many years of cruelty and different forms of abuse and alienation”.

JJ, however, disputes those assertions, saying he has been closely associated with the church for decades and that his family has had a longstanding relationship with the institution.

The Bishop says he has been a  devoted member of the church for over 30 years, having joined the fellowship in 1998.

He says his wife has worked at the church for more than two decades in administrative roles.

“My wife has been an employee of the church for over twenty years, serving in various capacities, including as assistant to various senior pastors and bishops, including the applicant.”