Crucifying Christ all over again

Police are trying to establish if a Nakuru pastor is part of a car and motorcycle theft syndicate in what appears to be a worrying trend where clergymen are facing accusations of involvement in violent crime.

Nakuru police chief Johnstone Ipara told the Sunday Nation that detectives had recovered three vehicles, two motorcycles, five vehicle engines and two motorcycle engines in the compound of a pastor whom they have so far been unable to trace.

Recovered items

Detectives want to establish the ownership of the recovered items, which they believe to have been stolen, and whether the pastor had anything to do with their theft and concealment.

Mr Ipara said the officers had also recovered eight number plates and assorted spare parts and had intensified the search for the pastor who ministers at a church in Nakuru town.

The possible involvement of the pastor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is just one of the many recent cases in which men of the cloth have been accused of engaging in violent crime.

Two weeks ago, the Rev Kenneth Kimani Gathoni, an Anglican pastor, was brought to a court in Kerugoya town and charged with violent robbery, whose penalty is death.

Worshippers, relatives and friends thronged the courtroom as the court clerk read the charge to the priest.

The charge stated that on May 12, last year in Kerugoya town, jointly with others not in court, he violently robbed Ms Anne Thanje Nderitu, an employee of the Local Government ministry, of an ATM card and a mobile phone worth Sh15,000.

During the alleged robbery, Ms Nderitu, who was a market superintendent with the local county council, was hacked to death.

He faced a second count of being found in possession of a stolen cellphone belonging to Ms Nderitu on August 10, last year.

The priest, who is attached to Mount Kenya South Anglican Diocese, denied the charges and urged the court to release him on bond. But he was remanded to await trial.

At about the same time in Makueni, another curious crowd had gathered to watch the proceedings of another priest on trial.

Fr John Wambua was charged with attempting to murder Fr Fidelis Nzuki, a friend and colleague in the Catholic Church. Fr Nzuki was shot eight times. The case has brought two priests face to face in the courtroom; one in the dock and the other in the witness stand.

“I arrived at the parish at around 7 p.m., we had supper together with the accused and three other colleagues at around 9 p.m. I retired to sleep in one of the rooms,” Fr Nzuki told the court.

He said that at about 3.15 a.m. he was woken up by gunshots.

“There was darkness and we were using light from our mobile phones ... Fr Wambua came to our room and told us we were under attack from gangsters,” Fr Nzuki said. “He had two guns, he gave me the short one and three rounds of ammunition and told me to wait for further instructions from him as we pursued the alleged gangsters.”

He said Fr Wambua fired three shots into the darkness.

“He then told me to open the door. It was here that he shot me. I told him, ‘Father, you are killing me’ and he continued shooting,” Fr Nzuki said.

The next hearing was set for May 26.

And at the High Court in Nairobi, Rev Guyo Waqo Male, along with five other men, is facing charges in a long drawn-out court case in which they are accused of murdering Bishop Luigi Locati of the Isiolo Catholic Diocese. The suspects were first charged in 2005. The case is still pending.

After initially linking the bishop’s death to an ethnic feud, police now allege he was killed in a struggle for control of church funds. The six men, including the Rev Waqo, have pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the Italian bishop.

The bishop had spent most of his working life in Kenya and thousands of people – including President Kibaki and Vatican envoys – attended his funeral.

Sexual abuse scandals

Last year, the Catholic Church came under attack following a series of sexual abuse scandals involving priests in Europe and America. By the end of the year, the cases had cost an estimated $2 billion (then Sh150 billion) in settlements, and their revelation has shaken the faith of many of the Church’s members, according to the New York Times.

Closer home, a Catholic priest based in Nairobi told the Sunday Nation that a few of his colleagues were suspected of keeping families in contravention of the celibacy vow, while others are entangled in fights over money and positions.

In one incident, two priests in a parish in Limuru had to be transferred because of conflict over money. One had been allocated a section of the parish that gave him access to an affluent neighbourhood, which meant more money, while the other was dealing with poor villagers.

“But no one pursues these issues and they are left alone even though they are known,” said the priest who asked not to be named discussing sensitive issues about the Church.

The priests named in these cases are all presumed innocent as the courts are yet to find them guilty of the accusations levelled against them.

However, from violent crime to robbery, child molestation to adultery and rape, clergymen from traditional and upcoming churches have been mentioned in scandals that stand at the opposite end of the Gospel whose centrality lies in the Easter Sunday resurrection miracle.

Influence in society

Prof Rev Joseph Galgalo, the vice-chancellor of St Paul’s University, says the biggest problem is that the church is increasingly losing its influence in society.

“The church is influencing the world less than the world is influencing the church. Sinners and saints live together and the saints have to continue the work of transforming society,” he said.

According to him, some priests have gone into ministry and climbed to the highest echelons “and yet they have no relationship with God. Theirs it to use tactics to gain power and wealth”.

Outspoken cleric Rev Dr Timothy Njoya says the church is losing its influence to popular culture.

“One of the problems is the New Age gospel where there are no values. You have the Internet, pornography and so on. Society has changed. It has reached a point where you can’t tell the difference between the church and popular culture. If you go to Central, it’s about Kibaki’s legacy. If you go to Nyanza, priests talk about Raila. There is a lack of ideology, philosophy and doctrine and Christianity has converged with ethnicity. Churches in the Rift Valley and in Central want to go to State House more they want to go to heaven,” said Rev Dr Njoya.

He told the Sunday Nation that in his estimation, 30 per cent of church ministers in mainstream churches are driven to ministry by the job market.

“For the new ‘prosperity gospel’ churches, they are in the ministry 100 per cent because of the job market. They are industrial ministers.”

University of Nairobi dean of students Fr Dominic Wamugunda acknowledges that the church occasionally deals with the problem of the fallen priest.

“The contest between the human and the divine is always present. Sometimes, the human takes over but, ultimately, the divine triumphs.”

Additional reporting by Bob Odalo, Francis Mureithi and George Munene.