About 10 kilometres from the Nairobi city centre, on a quiet tarmacked lane off the Red Hill Road, a housing property comprised of a five-bedroom townhouse, a three-bedroom maisonette, a pool house, and a staff quarter, is about to go under the hammer.
The property in Nyari Estate, once part of the public image of David Kariuki Ngari, better known as Bishop Gakuyo, is now part of a much longer story of a businessman, preacher and politician whose fortunes have been tied to the rise and collapse of Ekeza Sacco.
Phillips International Auctioneers has advertised the sale of the roughly 1.06-acre property on October 22, 2026, marking another turn in the fortunes of a man who once presented himself as a successful property developer, religious leader and champion of ordinary Kenyans seeking land and homes.
The notice identifies Ngari and his wife Hannah Wachu Kariuki as the registered owners of the two parcels making up the property.
The sale shines a fresh spotlight on the property empire that became intertwined with the fortunes of Ekeza Sacco and Gakuyo Real Estate, the businesses through which thousands of Kenyans were drawn into a promise of savings, land and home ownership.
Ngari was once a familiar figure in the rapidly expanding property market around Nairobi, where his name was attached to Gakuyo Real Estate and Ekeza, while his religious standing gave him an unusual platform from which to build a following.
He was the founder and overseer of Calvary Chosen Centre Church and became widely known as Gakuyo, a name that eventually became as closely associated with his business ventures as with his religious work.
At the height of Ekeza’s expansion, the sacco was presented to members as a vehicle through which ordinary Kenyans could save and ultimately acquire land and houses.
Its reach grew rapidly, with contemporary reports putting membership in the tens of thousands and savings running into billions of shillings.
The business model blurred the lines between the sacco and Gakuyo’s property interests, a relationship that would later become central to regulatory and criminal investigations.
By March 2018, the government had cancelled Ekeza’s registration and ordered its liquidation after an inspection found that the society had failed to meet its objectives.
The regulator’s action followed complaints from members who said they were unable to access savings, adding that promised housing and land projects had not materialised as expected.
Ekeza Sacco Chairman David Kariuki Ngare alias Gakuyo (2nd right) is escorted outside a meeting room after they disagreed with sacco members in a meeting.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
At the time, Ekeza had attracted an estimated Sh2.56 billion from about 50,000 members, while other contemporary estimates placed the membership and savings even higher.
The collapse turned a once-expanding business operation into a fight over members’ money, property and accountability.
Ngari’s response at the time was strikingly different from the legal battle that would later follow.
In January 2019, as pressure from members mounted, he announced that he was putting some of his properties in Nairobi, Kiambu and Murang’a on sale to raise money for refunds.
Among the properties advertised was a residential property in Nyari, the same affluent Nairobi neighbourhood that now features in the latest auction notice.
He told reporters then that he intended to sell his properties to ensure that Ekeza members recovered their money.
That promise became part of the continuing saga as the financial distress did not disappear with the sale of individual assets.
Ekeza was eventually reinstated in February 2019 after conditions imposed by the government were met, but the questions surrounding its earlier operations continued through investigations, court proceedings and disputes involving members.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), its Financial Investigations Unit began probing the affairs of Ekeza, Gakuyo Real Estate and Gakuyo Investors Club in March 2019 after complaints from the Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives and individual investors.
The DCI said an audit by the Ministry found that Sh1.052 billion had been misappropriated between 2015 and 2018 by Ngari and other senior managers.
The agency recommended charges including conspiracy to defraud, stealing and obtaining money by false pretences, before the investigation file was forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
Ngari would eventually be arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in February 2024 while in transit to Zambia, and subsequently charged at the Milimani Law Courts. He denied the charges.
The prosecution case centres on allegations that Ngari and Ekeza conspired to obtain more than Sh1 billion from members through representations about investment in real estate and the money market.
He faces one count of conspiracy to commit a felony and 12 counts relating to obtaining money by false pretences.
The court released him on a Sh20 million bond or an alternative cash bail of Sh10 million and ordered him to surrender his passport.
The case has since moved from the dramatic arrest that revived public attention around Ekeza to the slower, less visible business of witness testimony and scrutiny of financial records.
In 2025, witnesses began giving evidence against Ngari, providing the court with a more detailed account of how the businesses connected to him operated.
One of the witnesses was Moses Kariuki, a former chief executive of Gakuyo Real Estate, who told the court that he handled customer relations, digital marketing and investor site visits before resigning in 2018 amid pressure from customers demanding refunds and title deeds.
Another key witness, inquiry officer Stephen Njoroge, told the court in August 2025 that his investigation found Sh1.052 billion had been channelled from Ekeza to Gakuyo Real Estate, its advocates, or other activities, including church-related operations.
Njoroge further testified that Ngari had made no personal financial contribution to the sacco despite being its founder, while money from member contributions was transferred to entities associated with him.
The defence has challenged aspects of the inquiry and audit findings, including the assertion that Ngari did not contribute to the sacco.
Ngari unsuccessfully sought the Kiambu governorship in 2017 and was deeply visible in the political environment around the Jubilee campaign, at a time when Ekeza’s name was being promoted to the mass audience.
The combination of religion, politics, and business would later become a major part of the scrutiny around him.
