Kenyan pastor joins ‘racist’ BNP party in Britain

By Julius Mbaluto in London

A far-right British political party that once limited its membership to people of "Caucasian origin" and campaigned for repatriation of migrants to their countries has won support from very unlikely quarters.

A self-styled Kenyan pastor, James Gitau, has thrown his weight behind the party that champions the restoration of "traditional British culture."

Gitau, whose life story remains unclear, is said to belong to the little-known United Holy Church.

Birds of a feather? Pastor Gitau (left) with BNP leader Nick Griffin in England recently. Photo: Courtesy

A Kenyan website in London claims Gitau once worked for a taxi firm in Mombasa before relocating to Britain in the late 1990s.

Kenyans in Britain are at a loss over Gitau’s dalliance with a party that would seek his own expulsion from their midst, although he was quoted as saying his main motivation for joining BNP was due to its stance against homosexuality, abortion and contraceptives.

First gay couple

"I don’t mean to judge anybody but I find it strange," student Jonathan Mwangi said while another wondered why Kenyans were always in the news for all the wrong reasons, in obvious reference to two Kenyans, Daniel Gichia and Charles Ngengi, who became the first gay couple to wed in London last October.

Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya.

Pastor Gitau’s affiliation with BNP has raised eyebrows as it preaches racial purity that he can never achieve.

To BNP adherents, it is not enough for one to be white; one has to to be English as the party only endorses "indigenous Caucasians."

For years the party’s policy was to recruit "whites only" until last month when it voted to remove a direct bar on non-white members after a legal challenge from Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the British Government watchdog on social equity.

Last week, the party was ordered by county court in London to remove its central beliefs and policies on race from its constitution.

Judge Paul Colins ordered BNP to remove two clauses for they were racist towards non-whites who would wish to become its members, such as Pastor Gitau.

Gitau was quoted on the Kenyan website saying BNP is the only party that would retain Britain as a Christian country and revive "decent British culture."

A Kenyan pastor who sought anonymity claimed Gitau does not belong to any known church and that the United Holy Church had no known physical address.

Gitau recently accompanied BNP leader Nick Griffin to campaign in BNP stronghold in Dagenham, and where a Kenyan, Elizabeth Kang’ethe was reported to be vying for a civic seat.

Meanwhile, areas that see high levels of immigration are not more likely to vote for the far-right British National Party (BNP), a policy think tank report said on Monday.

The centre-left Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that only one of the top 10 BNP voting areas, Barking and Dagenham, had higher than average immigration.

In fact, the IPPR said its study covering 150 local authorities suggested "that where people have experience of living with migrants they are less likely to vote for the BNP."

The report found that the main contributing factor to the increase in profile for BNP chairman Nick Griffin’s controversial party was a sense of isolation felt in areas with low social "resilience" levels.

This is defined as the ability of an area to withstand shocks such as mass unemployment combined with low levels of education, among others.

Additional reporting by AFP