Ushindi Pastor to Stay, Judge Rules
PNNE Officials, Rev. Stephen Quinlan, Dr. Clifford Creel and Elder Burks emerge from the Superior Court in Woburn, Ma after an injunction hearing filed by PNNE to remove Dr. Mumbui Karimi from serving at the Ushindi church in Lowell. Pic by H.Maina/ Ajabu Media |
By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News, posted May 26, 2011. Last updated 8.45 pm
LOWELL, Mass,_ In a massive dose of much needed good news in a long time for embattled Kenyan Community Presbyterian church (Ushindi) pastor, Dr. Mumbui Karimi, a Judge at the Woburn Superior Court struck down an injunction motion to restrain him from conducting affairs of the church by the Presbytery of Northern New England (PNNE), a PCUSA body that claims oversight of affairs at the troubled church.
In a ruling made available earlier today, Thursday May 26, Judge Joseph Walker III said that at this stage of the litigation process, PNNE did not present sufficient evidence to persuade the court that a restraining order against Dr. Mumbui would cause irreparable harm if not issued.
The ruling came after a hearing at the Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts on Tuesday May 24.
After hearing arguments from both counsels, Judge Walker said that he needed to give the matter further thought and would therefore issue a ruling through a statement in the coming days.
The ruling was obtained by Ajabu Media from the offices of both lawyers representing Dr. Mumbui on one side, and PNNE together with Wilson Wachira and Joyce Gathoni (previous ‘board members’ of the church) on the other.
The new developments mark a stunning victory by Dr. Mumbui who has been bombarded by a relentless PNNE eager to kick him out of the largest Kenyan community church in Lowell after the Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC), a PNNE legal arm serving as a church based court found him guilty of 3 out of 5 counts of sexual abuse of a young girl who was a member of his congregation at the time.
However, Attorney James Boumil, representing Dr. Mumbui, has maintained that PNNE is an irresponsible organization that has no legally binding jurisdiction to make Ushindi church abide by it’s dictates since PNNE is a New Hampshire based corporation while Ushindi church is a Massachusetts based corporation, and that the two have never entered into a legally binding agreement.
While denying the injunction application by PNNE, Judge Walker III also said that “Indeed, apart from speculation by the parties’ counsel regarding any future physical turmoil and dissent within the church membership, neither side proffers credible evidence that irreparable injury may accrue to the Church, to PNNE, to PCUSA , to the general Church membership, to individual Church members or Officers (whether “validly” in place or otherwise), or to the Church’s standing in the greater Lowell community- if the extraordinary relief of injunction is, or alternatively, is not granted”.
The ruling marks the first major victory by Dr. Karimi aganist PNNE and appears to be a major setback for the latter who had hoped to remove Dr. Mumbui and bring in another Kenyan pastor to minister to the Ushindi congregation.
Despite the ruling against PNNE on the restraining order, the issue of the Ushindi church funds currently in the custody of presbytery, and the validity of the current board of elders of the church were not ruled on as they were not on the injunction motion, indicating further court battles ahead.
The dispute has divided the church into two opposing camps and has spilled over into the larger Kenyan community in New England for a period of more than five months since the church based proceedings took place in Bedford, NH last fall.
Many members of Ushindi church interviewed by Ajabu Media at the hearing on Tuesday vowed to accept and respect the ruling of the Judge in whichever way it would be decided with the hopes of healing the wide divide caused by the dispute among brethren and sisters in faith.
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