A controversial Kenyan preacher has been summoned by police as the government cracks down on what it calls rogue churches and extremist religious leaders.
Eliud Wekesa, popularly known as “Jesus of Tongaren”, the leader of the New Jerusalem sect, was summoned on Tuesday for questioning about his suspicious religious teachings.
He has led members of his church to believe that he is Jesus. Mr Wekesa has 12 disciples named after the descendants of the biblical Jacob.
He is expected to appear before police in the western county of Bungoma on Wednesday.
The preacher, however, says he has done nothing wrong to warrant an arrest, adding that he only spreads the gospel, local media reported.
This comes as investigators on Tuesday exhumed 21 more bodies in the coastal Kilifi county, bringing the total of those known to have died in the doomsday cult to 133.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the Good News International Church based in Kilifi, is awaiting trial, amid accusations of ordering his followers to starve themselves to death.
Hundreds of others have been reported missing.
President William Ruto has formed a commission of inquiry to probe the now-called Shakahola cult deaths in Kilifi county.
Police in the neighbouring Kwale county on Monday rescued 200 people, including 50 children, from a forest in a suspected case of religious kidnapping.
Source: Ghana News
