'Kujeni mfunge!' Apostle James Ng'ang'a rant over high cost of living goes viral

Ng'ang'a, not new to anti-government rhetoric, spoke on Thursday during a live church service that was held at the Neno Evangelism headquarters in Nairobi.

While addressing the congregants, the outspoken preacher harangued the government, saying that it was his right as a Man of God to speak truth to power and also daring the authorities to close down his church if they so wished. 

"Sometimes you are misleading this nation. Naongea kama mtume. Uchumi ni mbaya na mnatumia hizo pesa vile mnataka. Mnapandisha uchumi huku, mnaongezea pesa huku, na mtu akiwaambia mnafunga kanisa. Si mkuje mfunge hii yangu! Kujeni mfunge! Stupid!" the displeased apostle said.

"Na nikihubiri nitaongea na nitasema what is right. I will speak what is right. I swear before God. Some of you guys are misleading this nation, na chuma kiko jikoni, chuma kiko jioni!"

Ng'ang'a also cautioned the Kenya Kwanza leadership, warning them that if they continued with the same trend, God would topple them.

"Naongea kama mtume. Huyu Mungu mnacheza na yeye atawatoa kwa jiko," he warned. 

Shortly after the video went viral online, Kenyans on X (formerly Twitter) roundly celebrated the preacher, quickly turning his sentiments into a meme field, with others even sharing suggested t-shirt designs as if to rubber stamp the message.

Led by political analyst and social commentator Gabriel Oguda, creative Kenyans went on overdrive, turning Ng'ang'a's rant into a piece of entertainment.

"That Pastor Nganga rant is epic. Bwana who can design a t-shirt with Pastor Nganga on the front with the quote, "Si Mfunge, Stupid!" Itaweza sana.!" Oguda tweeted.

One user @MisterAlibe reacted to a Ng'ang'a t-shirt design saying," We are really doing bad when Pastor Ng'ang'a is making sense!"

Ng'ang'a blistering comments come days after the National Treasury proposed the introduction of more taxes.

In a Draft Medium-term Debt Strategy for the period 2024-25 and 2026-27, the National Treasury proposes a raft of major tax changes.

The draft proposed an increase in VAT from 16 per cent to 18 per cent. 

It has also proposed an increase in exercise duty on spirits and higher alcohol content products to discourage their consumption as they pose higher health risks.