Main churches split on Kenya’s rules on religion as Muslims declare never!

Bishop Mark Kariuki (left) with head of Redeemed Gospel Church Arch-Bishop Arthur Kitonga (centre) and Bishop Margaret Wanjiru join other church leaders during a press conference yesterday, where they rejected the new rules set to govern religious organisations. Kariuki said the regulations are in bad faith and vowed to mobilise members to undertake mass protests against them. [PHOTO: WILLIS AWANDU/STANDARD]

In what is shaping up to be a major confrontation with the State in many years, religious organisations are bracing for an all-out war over new regulations to govern their operations.

Christian and Muslim leaders vowed to fight the proposed laws in and out of the houses of worship, and even in court.

But the Government, through Attorney General Githu Muigai, stuck to its guns and declared there was no going back, saying all stakeholders were consulted fully in the process of formulating the laws.

“A few of the proposed requirements have been deemed necessary to accommodate new developments and challenges of the 21st century demanding our adjustment accordingly,” said Prof Muigai.

A division was, however, apparent among the religious organisations, with mainstream churches seemingly supportive of the Government’s move to regulate the sector.

According to Anglican Church of Kenya Bishop Beneah Salah, the church is not as healthy as it should be. “Horrible things are happening in the church today. There is a lot of commercialisation of the gospel with this prosperity gospel,” said Salah.

“Perhaps God is using the State to punish the church as he did in the past, where he used kings or nations to discipline the church,” he added.

Reading from the same script is Butere ACK Bishop Timothy Wambunya, who said there is need to rein in con preachers, who had inflated religious cycles.

“We have no major trouble with the laws so long as they don’t stop the key role of church of fishing lost souls. Our church constitution gauges the conduct and education of each cleric and that’s what the laws basically want,” said Wambunya.

Presbyterian Church of East Africa is also in support of the proposed laws.

Moderator David Gathanju said the regulations were timely as they will tame rogue preachers who have messed up the true gospel.

“We are part of the team that drafted the proposals aimed at regulating how churches conduct their businesses,” the moderator noted.

He said such laws were needed to tame pastors, who have been misusing pulpits to enrich themselves by exploiting the flock, instead of giving them sound spiritual guidance and direction.

“Some of our colleagues are greedy and only caring about their own welfare,” he said.

Fr John Pesa of Coptic Holy Ghost Church said the Government made the right move to audit the church. He said many new churches have come up with dubious ways of collecting money from widows and orphans.

“The Government is right to restrict certain operations of the church. Many new ones have come up and they are not professional in the manner they conduct their activities,” he said.

 

The same was echoed by Bishop Abraham Gitu of the Apostolic Faith Church, who said the regulations aimed at streamlining religious organisations were long overdue.

“The regulations will restore sanity but there should be a grace period to allow those who have not undertaken theological training time to study,” he added.

But other organisations see the new regulations as an affront to freedom of worship. Pentecostal and evangelical churches say they will go to court if the new rules are published as they are.

Evangelical Alliance of Kenya Chairman Bishop Mark Kariuki said the regulations are in bad faith and vowed to mobilise members to undertake mass protests against them.

“We will sustain this pressure as long as our issues remain unresolved,” said Kariuki.

He added: “We do not reject regulations. We are law-abiding and we submit to the authority of the day. However, it must be reasonable and after proper consultation. If all fail, then we will fight it in court.”

“As believers, we know some anointed men of God are like Peter the fisherman, who was called unlearned. However, he later became Peter Cephas the Rock on which God built His church. The call from God is personal, with or without education,” he said during a press briefing yesterday.

The National Council of Churches of Kenya General Secretary Canon Peter Karanja condemned the regulations, cautioning the Government against provoking the church.

“Christians are voters, it will be tragic for State to provoke the church into asking questions such as if we have the right government in place,” said Karanja in a phone interview.

Nyanza Council of Church Leaders Chairman Arch-Bishop Washington Ogonyo Ngede said the church is a spiritual movement that needs to be guided through spiritual leaders and not the State.

He argued that stakeholders should have been consulted before the proposed law was made public.

“Members of the clergy should be ready to face consequences of their actions when found guilty of offences punishable by law but such will not be generalised and blamed on other churches,” he added.

Uasin Gishu County Chairperson of Gospel Ministers Bishop Wilson Kurui said the move is ill advised and called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene.

“We are not answerable to the Government because we are not civil servants, thus there should not be any restriction,” he said.

 SUSPECT OPERATIONS

Similar sentiments were echoed by National Council of Churches North Rift Chairman Christopher Rutto, who insisted that the church has the capability of regulating itself.

“Inasmuch as the Government believes that the laws are necessary, it is not fundamental. Anglican Church of Kenya has its own regulations and a legal team and we do not see any need to impose laws and fines on them,” he added. Bishop Onesmus Mwanzia of the Abundance Victory Christian Church said the rules were draconian. “No one, even in the Old Testament ever interfered with the operations of the church,” he said.

According to Bishop Mwanzia, individual clerics should be punished for their sins, but not their respective churches.

Friends Church presiding clerk Zablon Malenge blamed the evangelical churches for the regulations. He said many of the latter-day evangelical churches have commercialised the gospel and introduced questionable worship to warrant checks and balances.

“We have a lot of seed money preaching and suspect operations in evangelical churches that keep opening by the day. That’s why such regulations are coming up. The major losers will be small churches opposed to mainstream denominations,” he said.

Bishops and Pastors Association of Kakamega chair Julius Abungana asked the State to tread carefully when dealing with religious instructions.

“You cannot risk to try and tame the spiritual; that is equivalent to fighting God Himself. Let the Government think twice before implementing those laws,” he said.

But the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims in a statement recently opposed the regulations, saying they were developed and implemented without consultations with relevant stakeholders.

“The regulations risk violating freedom of worship and amount to a clampdown on religious institutions. This will be against the Constitution. The AG should halt the implementation of the regulations,” said a statement from Supkem Secretary General Adan Wachu.

But Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya Chair Sheikh Ibrahim Ateka said they are still closely studying the contents of the regulations before releasing a comprehensive statement.

He, however, said the laws were in bad faith and could interfere with freedom of worship.

“The general view is that if there are bad elements hiding in religions, then the Government should devise ways to root them out without interfering with freedom of worship. We shall be issuing a comprehensive statement on the same tomorrow,” he said.

North Rift Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya Chairperson Sheik Abubakar Bin observed that clerics are elected by God and no individual ought to impose laws that threaten their calling.

— Stories by Nderitu Gichure, Protus Onyango, Ally Jamah, Daniel Nzia, Lonah Kibet and Silah Kosgei