TELEVANGELIST PIUS MUIRU FIGHTS TO SAVE PROPERTIES FROM AUCTION OVER SH216M LOAN 

Prominent Kenyan televangelist Pius Muiru, founder of the Maximum Miracle Centre, is locked in a legal battle to prevent the auction of prime properties he pledged as collateral for a KSh216 million bank loan obtained in 2010.

The church leader and his wife used several high-value assets in Nairobi including land parcels and rental buildings to secure the facility. At the time of the agreement, the total worth of these properties was approximately KSh960 million.

The repayment terms required the loan to be cleared within 84 months, with interest set at 14.5% calculated on a reducing balance. A penalty of 6% was also stipulated for any defaults. According to court filings, the Muirus have already repaid a substantial KSh350,640,968.07 an amount that surpasses the original principal.

The couple now argues that the bank overcharged them by KSh122,865,801.43. In their view, the remaining debt should stand at roughly KSh27.9 million.

The bank, however, claims that as of September 2020, the outstanding debt had ballooned to more thanKSh150.8 million. The financial institution attributes the sharp rise to a default period spanning fromSeptember 2011 to September 2016, during whichinterest and penalties continued to accrue.

The lender has rejected allegations of overcharging, insisting that all interest and penalties applied were fully in line with the original contract. The bank further argues that the televangelist’s legal move to block the auction is premature, pointing out that the statutory sale process has not yet been completed.

In his court submissions, Muiru explains that his financial troubles began to worsen following the COVID-19 pandemic, which took a heavy toll on his ministry’s income starting in 2020. He notes that his once-flourishing televangelism network has since seen a dramatic decline in revenue.

The pastor now fears that the bank will move forward with auctioning the properties, which heco-owns with his wife. Through his legal team, Muiru has accused the lender of acting fraudulently and without proper legal grounds.

The High Court has issued temporary orders halting any planned auction of the contested assets. Both parties are now expected to present their full arguments on July 8, 2026, when the court will hear the matter and determine the true debt amount as well as the legality of the bank’s recovery efforts.