Lumumba says church ‘waking from self-induced slumber’ after criticism of Ruto gov’t

Law professor and activist Patrick Lumumba has termed the Kenyan Catholic and Anglican churches’ recent criticism of the government and public refusal of politicians’ donations “heartening.”

Last week, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) publicly castigated Ruto’s “greedy” and “selfish” government for what they called a deeply entrenched culture of lies, corruption, unfulfilled promises, and misplaced priorities.

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) on Monday supported the Roman Catholic Church, saying they “spoke the minds of Kenyans and faithfully expressed the truth as things are on the ground.”

ACK Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit rebuked Ruto’s administration’s dismissal of the Catholic bishops' statement, calling it “dishonest.”

Later on Monday, the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi announced it had rejected donations from politicians.

Archbishop Philip Anyolo said the Ksh.600,000 President William Ruto gave the Soweto Catholic Church Choir and Parish Missionary Council on Sunday would be refunded, alongside Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s Ksh.200,000 handout.  

Ruto also donated Ksh.2 million towards the construction of the Father's house.

“The concatenation of events as outlined is heartening,” Prof Lumumba said in a Tuesday letter to the KCCB Chairman Maurice Makumba and ACK's Archbishop Sapit.

“They reveal a Church that is waking from its hitherto self-induced slumber and is now giving meaning to these words in the scriptures.”

Lumumba quoted Matthew 5:13 and Romans 12:2 Bible verses, which challenge Christians to be ‘the salt of the Earth’.

“Your graces, permit me to thank you for coming out to remind our politicians that occupying positions of leadership is a privilege and that money must not be used to dominate and blind the citizenry from seeing harmful indiscretions,” he wrote.

Further, the former Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission director challenged Kenyans to support the clergy in “seeking to moral re-arm our country for the sake of this generation and generation yet to be born.”

Among the issues the clergy have with Ruto’s administration are what they call turning a blind eye to Kenyans’ concerns, such as over-taxation and high unemployment rates, problems with the new university funding model, the dysfunctional transition from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the Social Health Authority (SHA).

They also criticise the government for unexplained abductions, killings and forced disappearances since the height of the June-July nationwide anti-government protests.

But while Ruto – and top officials in his government – at first downplayed the clergy’s concerns as uninformed, the President would later about-face, saying on Saturday he had heard the clergy’s concerns and would make corrections on the issues they highlighted.