Stop these political prayers that only mock God, the people

President William Ruto and Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii sing a hymn during the AIC Fellowship Annex 8th Anniversary thanksgiving service in Kesses Constituency on March 9, 2025. [File Courtesy] Kenya's annual political prayer rituals are absurd, bordering on blasphemy and profanity, as they do. They are an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer and a mockery of prayer. They should be done away with. These annual high-level jamborees mock God and Kenyan citizens alike, for they do not come from contrite hearts. At the very best, these dramas should be recognised as pious showmanship. Accordingly, they should be paid from the pockets of the political dramatists involved. Prophet Isaiah's message in the Bible centres on remorse as a product of the contrite heart. It reminds the faithful individual who would pray that prayer is not just some joyous emitting of perfunctory abracadabra. It is not playacting and invoking God's name in vain. It is about heartfelt confession, repentance, and reform. It is a return to God. I submit that none of these things has been present in the expensive jamborees the political class has dramatised as national prayers, over the years. What is witnessed is a pretext and costly living, at the expense of the taxpayer. It is a waste of time and public resources. The political cast at this week's prayer drama needs to be invited, once again, to read Isaiah 1:10-16, where it has been written in part, "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instructions of our God, you people of Gomorrah ...Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evil doers ...The multitude of your sacrifices, what are they to me? I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you appear before me, who has asked you? Stop bringing meaningless offerings... I cannot bear your worthless assemblies!" Kenya's political prayer assemblies lack any sense of regret over anything the political class has done or failed to do. In this week's assembly, President William Ruto addressed himself to the Gen-Zs in conditional phrases. There was utterly no sense of regret or guilt over a whole year of abduction and permanent disappearance of youth. You did not hear any vibration of soul searching. No demonstration of a disturbed presidential heart, seeking peace with itself and with the people. Look in the mirror You instead heard subjunctives, "Forgive us, if we have wronged you." The quest for forgiveness cannot be vague and conditional. You must confront the thing that disturbs you and make out with the persons you have wronged. This is heavy business. It requires honesty and courage. The courage to face yourself. The boldness to look in the mirror. To say, "Yes, this is me. I have wronged. I have failed. I regret. I must correct this. I must talk it over with those whom I have wronged. I must seek their forgiveness. I must change." You cannot gloss over things or make qualified sounds. Thereafter, there must be a demonstration of change of heart. You leave behind your bad old ways. You turn a new leaf. For the Kenya Kwanza government, you stop telling lies. You end hostile rallies across the country. You stop overtaxing people for plunder by the high and mighty. You stop opaque projects whose tendering and suppliers are unknown. You bring down the cost of living. You also refrain from abductions. State House, in particular, frees Parliament to the independence it badly requires to do its work. And MPs speak like people with minds of their own. State House also allows independent commissions and authorities to be independent. It stops politicising and weaponising the criminal justice system. Prophet Isaiah emphasises the correction of injustice. This is done by addressing the plight of the oppressed and caring for orphans and widows. The big irony in the Kenyan context is that State violence has created orphans, childlessness, and widowhood. We did not hear the State promise to correct this. Instead, soon after the prayer drama was done, the cast returned to the usual dramas in other theatres. It was back to cynicism in the National Assembly, complete with chest thumping and levity; a return to drunken exercise of political power. In the countryside, the usual invectives and loud noises against real and imagined enemies. There is no point in squandering public energy and other resources on prayer dramas that have no penitent value. They only mock God and the people. It is written of such mockers in 2 Peter 2:3, "Thy damnation slumbereth not." Dr Muluka is a strategic communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke

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