High Court lifts SDA ban on gospel artist Lorine Otieno
Crime and Justice
By
James Omoro
| Aug 12, 2026
The High Court has revoked the ban on renowned gospel artist Lorine Otieno from performing in Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) churches.
Otieno’s petition resulted from the decision of the SDA leadership to ban her from performing in any of the churches falling under the jurisdiction of the Southern Kenya Lake Field. The Southern Kenya Lake Field comprises SDA Church in the South Nyanza region predominantly occupied by the Luo and Abagusii communities.
She moved to Homa Bay High Court arguing that the ban violated her rights.
In the petition, Otieno sued the administrative committee of the Southern Kenya Lake Field of the SDA Church as the first respondent.
The other respondents are the Executive Secretary of the Southern Lake Field Daniel Odek, the Southern Kenya Lake Field of the SDA Church, West Kenya Union Conference of the SDA Church and the SDA Church (East Africa) Limited as the second, third, fourth and fifth respondents respectively.
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Otieno, who sings in Dholuo, accused the SDA leadership of banning her from performing in its churches without giving her an opportunity to be heard.
She argued that the church’s refusal to inform her the reasons for the ban violated her right to information.
Otieno opined that the widely circulated memo issued by the respondents implied misconduct and constituted defamation and maliciously damaged her reputation.
She prayed for an order for general damages for defamation, mental anguish, and economic losses she suffered due to the ban.
The artist prayed for a permanent injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, employees and any other persons acting under their authority from further publishing or disseminating any defamatory statements of communications regarding her.
Otieno told the court that the memo was widely circulated on social media platforms and digital news websites, including WhatsApp groups, Facebook, Twitter and Tuko News, among others yet it was never directly communicated to her.
However, the SDA Church opposed the petition, saying it was filed prematurely contrary to the church’s Manual and Working Policy, which provide for conciliation, mediation and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
The church also argued that the petition contravened the doctrine of exhaustion and hence it was bad in bad law.
Lady Justice Olga Sewe found that the church violated Otieno’s constitutional right through issuing and circulating the memo widely in social media platforms without giving her an opportunity to be heard.
“A declaration is hereby granted that the respondents’ action in issuing and widely disseminating the memo banning her from singing in any Southern Kenya Lake Field churches before giving her a hearing violated her constitutional right to fair administrative action under Article 47 of the Constitution,” Sewe ruled.
She revoked the impugned memo that banned the petitioner from singing in any of the Southern Kenya Lake Field churches.
“The costs of the petition will be paid by the respondents. It is so ordered,” she ruled.