President Ruto promises to work with clerics after bishop asked for State job

President William Ruto has pledged to work with preachers in his government following a request by a bishop, who asked him to consider members of the clergy for various committees.

During his sermon at an interdenominational thanksgiving prayer service in Kabarnet, Baringo County, on Sunday, Bishop William Kotut of the Africa Inland Church called on the president to consider the welfare of pastors.

He asked the Head of State to appoint preachers to various commissions to push national matters forward alongside their service to the church.

While thanking President Ruto for giving Baringo people plum state jobs, citing CS Simon Chelugui and PS nominee John Tanui, Bishop Kotut urged him to take up more people from the county in his administration.

“We ask you to continue looking at Baringo when you have other matters, and like I said another day, look at me too! Bishop Wabukala was given the EACC chairmanship, there are commissions we can sit in and push matters forward,” said the bishop.

“These people you see here have brains, educations, and the ability to sit in these commissions which do not need a lot of vetting, give them to us quickly and we will be thankful. We will be preaching as we also enjoy those ones. Who doesn’t want to eat?” he added.

In response, President William Ruto thanked the clergy for supporting him and the country in prayers and agreed to work with them.

“We thank you and your army of bishops for praying for us and for peace in our country, and just like you had asked to be included in matters of driving the country forward apart from just prayers, I agree,” said the president to cheers from the pulpit.

“We will work together and maybe to correct a bit where the bishop said 'work with no much vetting'... you are the ones who should go to positions with much vetting because you have no flaws so vetting is not a problem. Unlike some other people, you can answer all questions,” he added.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah who is among those who had accompanied the president to the prayer service had also supported Bishop Kotut’s request.

The MP had soon after the sermon asked Ruto to consider giving preachers jobs for their support in his presidential journey, saying the clergy had played an active role in Ruto’s win during the August General Election.

“What Bishop Kotut was requesting, I have heard him ask for a job and I want to ask you to find him, and other pastors, jobs. They supported us in prayer and you have confessed before that you would not have been president if not for prayers, and it is true. Their prayers made you president,” Ichung’wah said.

At the same time, President Ruto also pledged to deal firmly with drug and alcohol abuse among the youth in Kenya.

Rev. Kotut had told the Head of State of the worrying state of church weddings in the area, claiming that young people had stopped marrying due to alcoholism.

“Because of drugs and alcohol, even weddings have become very few, because we get some little money from those ones, but we are now only officiating one wedding a year up to the point we are almost begging the old people to hold weddings,” the clergyman had said.

“The young men are not marrying anymore… God save us!”

In response, the president said his government has already laid out measures to combat illicit brews across the country.

“We will deal firmly with illicit brews. The people with fake stamps are not even paying taxes and they are harming our people with bad liquor. We have already taken the necessary steps to deal with illegal brews and uncertified products that are damaging the lives of our people,” said President Ruto.