During a session on Monday, senators were informed that Pastor Ezekiel Odero had aired illegal content on a television station owned by the notorious preacher Paul Mackenzie of Goodnews International Ministries.
Ezra Chiloba, the Director General of the Communications Authority (CA), revealed these details to the Senate Ad hoc Committee on the Proliferation of Religious Organisations. Chiloba stated that Odero had aired the content between January and April 2023.
Chiloba informed the senators that Odero, the head of Newlife Prayer Center and Church, had broadcasted programs demonstrating exorcisms during the watershed period, which is a time when children are likely to be watching. He emphasized that this violated the guidelines on good taste and decency.
However, Chiloba clarified that Times TV, the television station in question, did not feature any teachings by Mackenzie during the investigated period from January to April 2023. According to him, Mackenzie had ceased airing his teachings on the TV station back in 2020.
The Communications Authority issued a notice of violations to Times TV on April 27, 2023, for airing inappropriate content during the watershed period (between 05:00 am and 10:00 pm), as well as other license conditions. This was the second notice of violation issued to the station, with the first one issued on September 20, 2020.
Committee Chair Danson Mungatana and other senators questioned why Odero chose to broadcast his preaching on Mackenzie's TV station instead of using his own. It was revealed that Odero's company, Newlife Communications Limited, had obtained its own license on June 18, 2021, to operate World Evangelism TV. However, despite having its own license, Newlife Communications continued to air its content on Times TV.
On May 4, Pastor Odero was released on a cash bail of Sh1.5 million and a bond of Sh3 million, with the same surety amount. The court emphasized that his release would not interfere with the ongoing postmortem examination of the Shakahola victims. Odero was ordered to report to the police station once a week or as required by the State.
Good News Media, owned by Mackenzie, was licensed by the Communications Authority on September 15, 2015, to provide Free-to-Air television broadcasting services. Chiloba informed the senators that Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and Shadrack Musau Mutiso are the directors of Good News Media, each with a 50 percent shareholding.
In a separate investigation, bodies of followers of Pastor Mackenzie's Goodnews International Ministries were discovered in shallow graves in a forest, indicating a potential mass murder. So far, over 300 bodies have been exhumed from these graves since the cultic occurrences came to light on April 14. Mackenzie has been accused of brainwashing his victims into starving to death, believing that they would meet Jesus Christ.
Chiloba informed the committee that there are 109 broadcasters primarily carrying religious programming. He noted that there is no specific licensing category for religious broadcasting stations, so stations focusing on religious content are licensed as either commercial or community broadcasters.
Lawyers George Kariuki and Elisha Komora, who were representing Mackenzie and his co-accused, have withdrawn their services in the case before the Shanzu Law Courts, citing frustration from the state's handling of the case against their clients.