A cleric from Nyeri has called for an end to early political campaigns, warning that the trend could compromise service delivery to the citizenry.
Bishop Dr Erastus Njoroge says the country is confronted with a number of challenges, including lack of critical services such as health and education and a struggling economy and can therefore ill afford to be subjected to early campaigns.
Dr Njoroge, who is chair of the Kenya National Congress of Pentecostal Churches, stated that elected leaders should support President Dr William Ruto in fulfilling his pre-poll pledges anchored under the Bottom-Up Transformation Agenda (BETA) and embark on campaigns at the opportune time as stipulated in the constitution.
“This is when they (elected leaders) should try their best to fulfil their promises (to the people). I want him (President Dr William Ruto) to try his best to see that the Bottom-Up Transformation Agenda is working because there is no impact on the ground. Instead of doing campaigns from now on, why don’t you (leaders) go to the ground and start working on fulfilling your promises? Let your vision have an impact from where you come from but if you are not available to the people who elected you, it means you are not supporting the President,” he told KNA.
The cleric also wants the Draft Religious Organisations Policy 2024 and Draft Religious Organisations Bill 2024 to be withdrawn, claiming it threatens the very tenets of religious liberty as enshrined in article 32 of the constitution.
Dr Njoroge has warned that any rushed legislation to regulate religious institutions in the country could turn out to be counterproductive to the freedom of worship and is appealing to Parliament to seek the withdrawal of the Bill in its entirety.
“I think the people who are talking about regulating the church don’t know what they are talking about. You cannot regulate the church. You cannot understand spiritual things. If you regulate the church, then you are telling us that persecution has started. This whole Bill should be brought out of Parliament and I am requesting our Members of Parliament to listen to what the church is saying. Whoever is joking with the church is joking with its owner,” he has cautioned.
In addition, the clergy has told off those downplaying the veracity of divine healing through prayers, insisting that miracles are well documented in the Bible.
He admitted that part of his work as a prelate involves praying for the sick, some of whom confess to instant restoration, while the rest testify later.
He nevertheless said those who might be beguiling their flock through dubious miracles need to be called out in the open to safeguard the sanctity of the church from unfair criticism.
The Bishop stated that it is the influx of fake preachers in the country which has prompted the need to regulate religion, a move which threatens to erode the gains made by the church in its mission over the years.
“Personally I believe in miracles. I believe in a God of miracles. I have prayed for people to get healed and I have seen God heal them because it is in the Bible that we shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. That is the Bible and we cannot go away from the Bible. We cannot change the Scriptures,” he remarked.
The need to come up with new bills was prompted by the discovery of dozens of graves in Shakahola in Kilifi County in March 2023.
The graves are suspected to belong to adherents of a religious cult led by self-styled preacher Paul Mackenzie of Good News International.
Mackenzie is believed to be the mastermind of the bizarre rituals in which followers of his church were coached to believe that the world was coming to an end and they needed to be prepared to meet Jesus.
The followers are believed to have starved themselves to death in anticipation of a glorious afterlife.
At least 450 bodies have been exhumed from the scene so far as the bizarre case continues in court.
After the discovery of the macabre killings, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) called for a review of proposals in the Religious Societies Rules 2015, saying the self-regulation provision in place had been jeopardised by the resistance of leadership structures and systems in some churches.
On the demarcation between church and state in national politics, Dr Njoroge said the former should always retain neutrality in matters of politics.
He said the greatest role for the clergy is to make intercession on behalf of all leaders and the country irrespective of political affiliations.
In addition, he has urged politicians to put the interest of this nation at the centre of their activities, warning that the country cannot enjoy peace while its leaders are trading insults against each other in public.
“The role of the church is to unite the nation, to pray for the nation and not to be biased. The church should be neutral. As we go forward, we need not be biased. Ours is a ministry of reconciliation. We need peace more than anything else, “he said.
By Samuel Maina and Wangari Mwangi
