Bishop vows to continue accepting donations from politicians

Bishop Timothy Gichere of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Mt Kenya Central diocese has lashed out at leaders who castigate churches for accepting donations from politicians.

Speaking at Murang’a GK Prison over the weekend, the Bishop noted that the church cannot distinguish ‘clean’ money from ‘dirty’ money.

He added that the church cannot label people as corrupt and the judicial process should be compromised.

“When leaders come to church and contribute money with clean hearts, we can’t decline because we are not in a position to know if the money is gotten from corruption and we are not there to rebuke and label people as corrupt because that is the obligation of the courts.

“Let the judicial process go on without politicising the war on graft so that the culprits can be arrested and charged,” he said.

Bishop Gichere, however, maintained that politicians should never use the church as a campaign platform to spread hate.

On Monday, the Bishop claimed he was misquoted, maintaining that he said no one should be placed at the public jury without judicial process.

“I emphasised that no one should be placed at the public jury without due judicial process and determination of any corruption involvement. And that before such a process is verified to have taken place, politicians cannot be judged even when they give in church.

“The media sometimes twist speeches to suit certain interest,” he said.

This comes just days after NASA leader Raila Odinga said that huge amounts of money being taken to churches should be investigated as they could be part of a money laundering scheme.

“Some church leaders are true to their calling, others are not. We need to ask the source of the millions of money being taken to churches.

“We need to ask, if someone’s salary is Sh1 million a month, where do they get Sh5 million each week or between Sh15 and Sh20 million a month to hold fundraisers in churches?” he said when he visited Kisumu County.