NAIROBI, Kenya, May 12 — Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has urged religious leaders to support the government’s proposal to regulate religious organizations in a bid to weed out cults and radical movements.
Gachagua made the appeal even as he cautioned against blanket condemnation of religious leaders and institutions in the wake of mass murders linked to a starvation cult in Kilifi’s Shakahola forest.
Speaking on Friday during the memorial service of John Njoroge Ndung’u, father of Juja MP George Koimburi at Full Gospel Church Matangi-Kimbo in Kiambu County, Gachagua said the information being sought by a taskforce formed by President William Ruto is intended to help streamline the registration and records of the religious groups.
“Nobody is fighting the Church at all but there are two or three people amongst thousands of preachers, who are using the Church to drive criminal activities,” he said.
“Even in the government, health, and the media there are rogue people. The rogue elements in the church will be dealt with individually.”
Gachagua added that there are elements exploiting the Bible for commercial enterprise, and to promote criminal activities. He said the government will continue defending the freedom of worship enshrined in the Constitution.
He added that the government will not allow criminals and extremists to hide behind religion, and those responsible for the events leading to the Shakahola deaths will be held personally liable.
“We are not going to punish the church because of an individual’s behavior, those who mislead the faithful must be isolated and take responsibility as individuals,” he said.
“Majority of our pastors are good people, 99.9 per cent of them are good. Allow the government to weed out the 0.1 per cent that is giving the Church of Christ a bad name,” Gachagua went on pleading.
‘We will not persecute religious leaders’
He assured that Ruto’s administration will not engineer the persecution of religious leaders.
“I want to confirm that the Constitution guarantees freedom of worship. President William Ruto and I took the Bible and men and swore to defend and uphold the Constitution. We shall guarantee to the letter freedom of worship. Ourselves, the President and I, are friends of the church.”
He spoke following a protest by a section of Pentecostal church leaders on Tuesday who castigated President Ruto over his decision to form a 17-member task force to review legal and regulatory frameworks governing religious organizations in Kenya.
The leaders urged President Ruto to revoke the gazetted task force to come up with an all-inclusive membership which will also include representatives from the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.
“The said task force was established without any consultation being done to the Pentecostal umbrella bodies and was ill-advised. None of the persons gazette are leaders in our collective associations hence the report will be biased,” read the statement.
“In light of the above, we urge President William Ruto to revoke the gazette task force dated 5th May and come up with all-inclusive membership which represents Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches.”
They added that because churches are already governed by the Society’s Act, the government cannot create new regulations on a regular basis.
Anglican backing
However, Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) has supported the move by government to regulate churches says State intervention would help tame religious extremists.
Speaking during a press conference by the House of Bishops on Wednesday, Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit noted the church will support a law that will stem the proliferation of extremist or cultic practices but said the State must protect and promote religious freedoms for all our citizens.
“The Anglican Church recognizes the current statutes are inadequate to deal with religious extremists and cultic bodies that operate under the guise of religious organization,” he said flanked by bishops for dioceses from across the country.
The bishops expressed sympathy for the mass deaths in Shakahola blamed on a starvation cult led by televangelist Paul Makenzie.
“We condole the families who lost their loved ones in the Shakohola and caution the public to be alert and report any suspicious religious practices,” Sapit said in a statement endorsed by the House of Bishops.
Musyimi taskforce
President Ruto instituted a 17-member taskforce to review legal and regulatory frameworks governing religious organizations in Kenya.
In a gazette notice dated May 5, President Ruto announced that Reverend Mutava Musyimi will chair the committee which will be operational for the next six months.
The task force was formed following the discovery of mass graves in Shakahola forest, Kilifi, in what has been dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is facing terrorism charges for allegedly urging followers to starve to death “to meet Jesus”.
The Mutava-led taskforce will seek to identify gaps and propose legal and governance changes to prevent religious extremism.
It will also inform standards used to grant certificates to various religious institutions in the country.
