Pastor, two friends charged in Court over Sh371,000 unpaid hotel bills

A pastor and his two friends have been arraigned in court for failing to pay a bill of Sh371,500 after wining and dining at a lavish hotel in Eldoret town.

Appearing before Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo, Pastor Alex Munyoki and his two co-accused Gilbert Mukisa and Lilian Walukana denied the charges read out to them.

According to the court papers, the trio were charged with obtaining credit contrary to the penal code by incurring a debt at Goshen Inn limited.

The three checked in at the facility on February 15 while falsely pretending that their sponsor from the United States would clear the debt.

The 39-year-old pastor claimed to be an intercessor from Kitui is said to have been doing his ministry works in Kakamega.

He had asked the two youths to join him in Eldoret where they would be staying, while conducting prayers and waiting for their guests from the US.

Mukisa and Walukana, both aged 32, argued they had been called by the man of God who facilitated their travel to Eldoret and told them that their mission was to intercede for the town.

They claimed the pastor had then booked them at the hotel and had promised to cater for all their bills when his sponsors from Texas would land in the Country and join them.

They said that they were Christians and had met the pastor before at a prayer and fasting event.

When they arrived in Eldoret, the pastor had then booked them a single room, where they stayed for 41 days while waiting for the guest who the pastor had said would join them.

The two also argued that on two occasions, the hotel manager had approached them asking about the accumulating bills.

They said that whenever they raised the issue with their host, he asked them not to worry about the delays and that his sponsors would settle everything.

The pastor said that he had been creating networks with other prayer warriors, and that the Lord had directed him to be accompanied by the two youths to Eldoret town.

He claimed he had received a revelation that someone would pay for the bills that they would incur while dedicating their time to pray at the hotel.

Munyoki said that at the hotel, he would share a bed with his male colleague while Walukana slept in a different bed, adding that their intercessions and prayers would last up to midnight.

According to the man of God, his sponsor who he knew as Rooney and who he had met in Machakos in 2021 had however gone silent after he tried to reach him to request for the payment of the hotel bills.

He said that even after his sponsor went silent, he had continued to stay at the hotel in the hope that he would communicate to him and pay the required amount.

At the hotel management led by Sammy Wafula claimed it provided the trio with services on full board on the agreement that the bills would be paid in time.

Wafula said after sending their clients with invoices detailing their bills three times and having failed to clear their bill, the management became suspicious and was forced to involve the police.

The pastor told the police that he would bear the full burden of the hotel bills, saying that his co-accused were not responsible for the happenings.

The court however directed that the three be released on a cash bail of Sh60,000 each with an alternative bond of Sh80,000 with a similar surety.

The case will appear for mention on April 3.