For years, Pastor James Wanjohi of defunct Jesus Culture Ministries in Nairobi built his name and congregation by posing as a businessman and philanthropist.

He later converted his followers into potential voters in Roysambu Constituency, Nairobi County, where he participated in United Democratic Alliance (UDA) primaries for the 2022 General Election.

His entry was as quick as his exit after his arch-rival Augustine Mwafrika Kamande and other petitioners protested that the process was marred by massive election fraud during the nominations.

The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal would later confirm that indeed there were massive irregularities and Mr Wanjohi was stripped of the party ticket that was later handed over to Augustine Mwafrika, who went on to win and is now the incumbent Roysambu legislator.

James Wanjohi Njoroge makes his case in front of the Disputes Resolution Committee (DRC) on June 11, 2022, at the Milimani Law Court.

Photo credit: Francis Nderitu| Nation Media Group

The encounter thrust Mr Wanjohi into the spotlight. Defeated in 2022, he turned his attention to rebuilding his church in Roysambu Constituency, with plans to make another bid in the 2027 General Election.

Recruitment scam

But as this happened, a recruitment job scam hit his company, Worthstart Africa, where on April 22, 2024, a months-long investigation by the Daily Nation revealed that his company was at the centre of a Sh600 million job scam saga.

His company was accused of issuing job seekers with tourist visas instead of Canadian work visas, falsifying financial documents submitted with their applications, and ultimately job seekers receiving five visa bans from the Canadian embassy, according to documents seen by the Daily Nation.

Also Read: Flashy pastor, a Sh600m jobs scam and debt-stricken victims

After the expose', Mr Wanjohi, fearing arrest, went into hiding and emerged later after securing anticipatory bail barring his arrest.

Pastor James Wanjohi of Jesus Culture Ministries in Roysambu.

Photo credit: Pool

2027 strategy shift as victims await justice

Just like in the Roysambu constituency game plan in the year 2022, Mr Wanjohi has now shifted his political base to Kabete Constituency, Kiambu County, where he has been running high-level campaigns using the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) as his preferred political vehicle.

To be assimilated in the area, Mr Wanjohi has already set up Wanjohi Technical Training Institute, a youth empowerment and vocational training centre offering short courses to woo young voters into his fold, where applicants are paying Sh1,000 for registration.

Ereneta Njeri, who is one of Mr Wanjohi's accusers, told Daily Nation that she opted to relocate to Dubai for greener pastures after she lost Sh165,000 to WorthStart Africa.

She told the Nation that she is disappointed that her prospects to Canada have technically been shut permanently after WorthStart Africa allegedly falsified her financial documents for ultimate visa denial and on top of that, she was in the year 2024 slapped with a visa ban by the Canadian Embassy.

''James Wanjohi scammed us and he conspired to beat justice. I have never received my money back, and I opted to go to Dubai at least to repay the loan that I had borrowed. If you are poor in Kenya, you can never get justice. We reported the matter to all authorities and nothing was done,’’ Ms Njeri told Daily Nation. She sounded frustrated and fed up with the pursuit for justice.

Also Read: Detectives investigating firm owned by jobs scam man who exploited Ruto Germany tour moved to remote stations

Lydiah Wangechi, who allegedly lost Sh120,000 to WorthStart Africa, told Daily Nation that she had been promised a job in Canada as a hotelier; free accommodation, a work permit and a legal officer to take her through the documentation once she lands.

To date, she has never received any refund.

''We have been to government offices, recorded statements, yet the person who scammed us is roaming free and now wants to be a member of parliament in Kabete. How can you break laws and still claim you want to be a member of Parliament? Which laws can you make? The fact that Mr Wanjohi represented himself as a man of God and ended up conning us is more worrying, and I stopped trusting anything associated with pastors,’’ Ms Wangechi told Daily Nation.

How the con game was executed

Detectives investigating WorthStart Africa and its affiliate companies told Daily Nation that the company tricked its vulnerable clients through three ways.

Also Read: Property bought by suspects in Sh1 billion jobs scam traced

One was advertising in the mainstream media and social media of job openings in Europe and when job seekers visited their offices and paid between Sh100,000 and Sh140,000, one was not issued with a job contract but rather a tourist visa facilitation contract.

Pastor James Wanjohi of Jesus Culture Ministries in Roysambu, Nairobi County. The pastor is also the founder of Worthstart Africa, a recruitment agency.

The first strategy allegedly involved promising victims that, after securing tourist visas, their status would be converted into work visas once they arrived at the purported destination, with the process handled by WorthStart Africa’s legal representatives on the ground.

The second strategy allegedly involved deliberately submitting poor documentation and falsified financial statements on behalf of job seekers during visa applications, resulting in mass rejections and five-year visa bans for some applicants.

The third involved operating under different company names linked to WorthStart Africa, including WorthStart Travel Agency and WorthStart Barista Technical Institute. Applicants would allegedly be moved between the entities and told that their contracts contained errors or had been processed under the wrong company category.

Even as this happens, Daily Nation has learnt the investigations into WorthStart Africa and Mr Wanjohi have stalled. The detectives who were investigating the matter were transferred under unclear circumstances after they handed over their investigation report to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A source conversant with the matter at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations told Daily Nation that to drag the investigations, the file has been taken back to different investigators for fresh investigations.

Mr Wanjohi declined to comment about the matter and the status of fresh investigations and whether there are any plans underway to refund money to his victims.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, when reached for a comment by the Nation, promised to reach back and by the time of going to the press, they had not responded on the status of the matter and the circumstances under which the initial investigations report was set aside and fresh investigations ordered.

Mr Wanjohi, through his social media posts, maintains innocence and denies involvement.

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