Kenyan bishop rejects president’s donation

“Politicians are urged to refrain from turning the pulpit into a stage for political rhetoric, as such actions undermine the sanctity of worship spaces.”

The Archbishop of Nairobi Philip Subira Anyolo ordered a parish to return a $40,000 donation from President William Ruto, who has been in public dispute with Kenya’s Catholic bishops.

Ruto, an evangelical Christian, made the donation at Sunday Mass on 17 November at the Church of St Joachim and St Ann in the Soweto district of Nairobi, which he attended with the city’s governor George Sakaja. The president presented $20,000 and pledged the same amount to fund the construction of a presbytery and to support the church choir. He also promised to pay for a parish bus early next year.

The next day, Archbishop Anyolo ordered the parish to return the first installment to Ruto, referring to church directives on fundraising and ethical concerns about the donation, adding that churches could not be used for political propaganda.

“Politicians are urged to refrain from turning the pulpit into a stage for political rhetoric, as such actions undermine the sanctity of worship spaces,” he said in statement, asserting the Church’s call to “uphold its integrity by refusing contributions that may inadvertently compromise it independence”.

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This followed an emphatic statement published by the Kenyan Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) on 14 November alleging Ruto’s government was “captured and compromised in corrupt deals” and had failed to address popular concerns about health, education and human rights.

“We made clear statements many times in the past, with very little response from the government. Despite the calmness we are experiencing, there is a lot of anxiety and many people are losing trust in the government,” said the KCCB chair Archbishop Maurice Muhatia Makumba of Kisumu.

After initially dismissing the bishops’ claims, the government seemed to be working to mollify them until Anyolo rejected Ruto’s donation. Donations from politicians are typically accepted by Kenyan churches.

The leadership of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) issued its own statement on 18 November backing the KCCB.

“We believe that the government is yet to turn around the country and steer it in the right direction. Calling church leaders names or dismissing the Bishops’ statement as ‘misleading, erroneous and false,’ is itself dishonest,” the ACK statement said.

“Let the political class and those in government come down from their high horses, listen for once, rather than seemingly perpetuate the commonplace culture of impunity. The governed do not need lectures but services and honest engagement.”

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