{"id":406,"date":"2026-08-26T22:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/?p=406"},"modified":"2026-08-28T18:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T18:45:46","slug":"married-father-of-two-arrested-for-posing-as-catholic-priest-in-lodwar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/?p=406","title":{"rendered":"MARRIED FATHER OF TWO ARRESTED FOR POSING AS CATHOLIC PRIEST IN LODWAR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The suspect has been identified as Jones Bogonko Onchonga, a married father of two from Kisii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to court particulars, between July 31 and August 12, 2026, at the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar in Turkana Central, Onchonga willfully and by false pretences tricked Rt. Rev. Bishop John Mbinda and the leadership of the Diocese into believing that he was a duly ordained Catholic priest authorized to conduct church meetings and administer sacraments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>From Guest Priest to Main Altar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Onchonga reportedly arrived in Lodwar claiming to be a priest from Tanzania visiting the town while on leave. He convinced local clergy of his credentials and was allowed to lead Mass and administer sacraments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Investigations show his access was extensive. He participated in Masses at St. Augustine Cathedral, Kalokol, St. Thomas Chapel and St Mary&#8217;s Lodaraja. More remarkably, he was seen celebrating Mass alongside Bishop John Mbinda, the Catholic Bishop of Lodwar. A photo from August 5, 2026 shows Bishop Mbinda at St. Augustine Cathedral presiding over Holy Mass with Onchonga standing at the back among the concelebrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Diocese Disowns Him<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On August 16, the diocese issued a notice with two photographs of Onchonga, warning clergy and congregants he was not a Catholic priest. \u201cHe is actually a married man with two children in Kisii,\u201d said the notice signed by Bishop John Mbinda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Diocese accused him of violating several provisions of the Code of Canon Law, including \u201cpretending to administer sacrament (Canon 1379)\u201d and other offences including unauthorised celebration, usurping ecclesiastical office and falsifying documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Court Case<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Onchonga was first arraigned at Lodwar Law Courts on August 14, 2026, before Senior Principal Magistrate Evanson Ngigi where he pleaded guilty to personation contrary to Section 382 of the Penal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, when presented again on August 17 before Resident Magistrate Michael Lokitam, he changed his plea to not guilty. The prosecution did not oppose the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The court granted him a bond of Sh100,000 with one surety or an alternative cash bail of Sh50,000. He remains remanded at Lodwar G.K. Prison pending payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case will be mentioned on August 31 and heard on October 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Diocese has urged faithful who received sacraments from him to present themselves to legitimate priests for pastoral guidance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The suspect has been identified as Jones Bogonko Onchonga, a married father of two from Kisii. According to court particulars,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blazepointmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}