Why new church donations directives cause division

As Christians throng various churches for Sunday mass, the Catholic Church in Kenya will — effective this Sunday — not be accepting direct donations of huge sums of cash from politicians.

According to the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), contributions to fundraise for projects in church will only be done via mobile money transfer or by cheque payments, in a move aimed at blocking the political class from donating ill-gotten money to churches and institutions.

“We wish to move towards cashless donations. And for the purpose of accountability, we shall declare in public the list and accounts of our projects,” said the bishops in a statement read last weekend by Bishop Philip Anyolo, the KCCB chairman.

As expected, the directive has easily attracted a political interpretation. National Assembly’s Leader of Majority Aden Duale claims the church is playing politics and is deliberately targeting Deputy President William Ruto.

“The command of the Bible and the Koran is for the faithful to give back to the needy in society, and the church should accordingly accept cash from those who can offer a shilling and those who bring a million shillings as contributions. Otherwise, this whole story is just targeting Dr Ruto,” charges Mr Duale, who is allied to Jubilee Party.

DIVIDED OPINION

Mr Duale challenges the Catholic Church to question not those who are “giving back to society” like Dr Ruto and himself, but instead encourage the likes of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga and his Amani National Congress counterpart Musalia Mudavadi, who are allegedly not keen on making contributions to the church, to do so.

However, National Assembly Minority Leader and ODM chairman John Mbadi hails the steps undertaken by the Catholic bishops.

“The move by the Catholic Church is confirmation that noble courses like contributions for church projects are prone to abuse. And this is not about Dr Ruto but most of us in the political arena, who are keen at corrupting church leadership,” says Mbadi.

The restrictions come a couple of days after Embu Catholic Bishop Paul Kariuki defended Dr Ruto over his countrywide engagements with the church.

Speaking late last month at St Peter and Paul Cathedral Parish in Embu in the presence of the DP, the bishop praised Dr Ruto for doing a great job in contributing cash towards projects in churches and other institutions and egged him on, “wewe endelea kutangatanga hakuna shida” (continue roaming, there is no problem).

Earlier, clergymen from various churches in Rift Valley region held a press conference to protest at the DP’s frequent trips, specifically in churches in Central Kenya and demanded a share of the monies Dr Ruto was giving out.

GRAFT WAR

Had the DP toured churches in his home turf, just half the time he had in Central Kenya, they figured, most church projects in the region would have been completed.

The timing of the move by the Catholic bishops notwithstanding, Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri Diocese maintains the action by the Catholic Church has not been specifically inspired by the recent drama involving the Embu Bishop, which ignited a heated discourse on social media forums, over the Church-Politics relations.

Pointing out that corruption has been infiltrating the churches, Bishop Muheria says the Catholic Church has been alive to the corruption problem, hence the release of their first warning in April this year: “We believe that this move will help — not just the Catholic Church but other churches as well — to regulate contributions to churches and keep at bay corruption.”

The politicians, courtesy of Mr Mbadi, have similarly sponsored a Bill to regulate funds drive. Mr Mbadi explains that his bill is geared at amending the Public Ethics Act with a view to “bringing sanity and order in collection of funds, such that a public officer contributing more than 100,000 shillings — not just in church but elsewhere — is compelled to declare source of his or her funding.”

NYORO-KAMANDA CLASH

But vowing that he and a host of Jubilee legislators will shoot down the Mbadi Bill, Pokot South MP David Pkosing claims the move by ODM chairman is meant to undermine the DP.

“We cannot allow legislations that condemn the people to poverty by denying them access to development through generous contributions by individuals,” he said.

The funding factor aside, the biggest challenge of late has been heightened politicking in churches, with the clergy allowing politicians to take over the pulpit.

The climax of this chaotic relation was witnessed last month in Murang’a County, where political camps allied to Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Nominated MP Maina Kamanda violently clashed on the pulpit of Gitui Catholic Church.

National Council of Churches of Kenya patronr Timothy Njoya observes that churches in Kenya have become agents of the State, which is a major shift from church-state relationships in the 1990s.

“Then, State House was the agent of the Church. I personally directed the State House on what to do — including obeying the rule of law, stopping dictatorial tendencies and upholding democratic tenets. And when State House stopped listening to me, I changed it — rather the church initiated a political revolution that kicked the Kanu regime out of power,” he said.

AUTONOMY ERODED

But today, opines Dr Njoya, it is the politicians who are driving churches out of the pulpit by way of bribery and manipulation.

“By surrendering itself to politicians and state operatives, the church can no longer operate independently."

The prelate attributes this change to a relatively poorly-trained and less educated clergy, who are intellectually inept and unable to influence policy.

According to the clergyman, politicians are accordingly taking advantage of the church leaders’ mental and intellectual incapacity, coupled with greed for money, to have their way.

“Almost everyone, including the jobless, is rushing to the pulpit under the guise of responding to a call from God. Ideally, the church has today become the only recreation facility other than bars, where people throng for entertainment by priests and inciting speeches by politicians,” claims Rev Njoya.

ACTIVISM

The anger and pain in Rev Njoya’s voice is clearly present as he protests at “today’s terribly weakened Church”.

Rev Njoya cannot comprehend why the clergy has lost its voice even the face of “runaway corruption” and more so invited politicians to take over their space at the pulpit.

Mr Duale concurs: “It is a shame that the church is willingly playing politics. They should simply learn from the Muslim community, because you have never seen politicians addressing people in Mosques.”