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Bishop Joseph Kagunda, Anglican Bishop of Kenya, narrowly missed a six-month prison term after being found guilty of contempt by a Nyeri court.
The bishop of Mt. Kenya West, however, spent more than 10 minutes in detention after Nzioki Makau, a judge of employment and labor relations, found him guilty of 39, having disobeyed the orders of the court.
The orders were issued three years ago by Judge Byram Ongaya, ordering Kagunda to reinstate three clergymen into their pastoral duties after firing them for allegedly practicing homobaduality.
The church administrator also received the order to pay to John Njogu Gachau, James Maina Maigua and Paul Mwangi Warui Sh6.8 million.
The court found that it was unconstitutional for the church to suspend the three priests from pastoral work without proof.
Judge Ongaya also ordered the church to pay priests all their salaries from August 2015, when they were fired.
Archdeacon Gachau received Sh 4337.780, Reverend Maigua Sh2.224.996 and Reverend Warui Sh2.219.814.
However, the church requested that the execution of the judgment be suspended, pending the decision of an appeal to overturn the court orders.
The church argued that the appeal would be rendered inoperative unless the order of stay was granted.
Judges Phillip Waki, Roselyne Nambuye and Patrick Kiage dismissed Bishop Kagunda's application for an order suspending the enforcement of the Nyeri Labor Court judgment.
The Nairobi Employment and Labor Relations Tribunal on July 10 issued a warrant for the arrest of Kagunda.
Application made
A swift action by his lawyer Wachira Nderitu, however, saved the bishop from spending the night in remand.
Immediately Makau ordered the bailiff to remove Kagunda, Mr. Nderitu made a request for the judge to suspend the execution of orders.
He said that his client was not aware of the existence of the said orders and asked the court to take into account the age of the bishop.
"I beg you not to execute your previous orders, knowing that my client is almost 60 years old," Nderitu said.
He said that once the court stayed on his orders, he would immediately ensure that respect was restored.
It is on this ground that Judge Makau rescinded his earlier orders and ordered that the bishop be brought back to court.
The court ordered that the priests be reinstated before 10 am today, otherwise the stay orders would be lifted. Kagunda promised to comply.
The judge also issued an arrest warrant against the ACK executive director for failing to comply with a court order requiring the church to pay 6.8 million shillings.
When the case was raised, Kagunda said that he was not aware of the court's orders forcing him to reinstate the priest.
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