The church prayed for Ruto's presidency, now the clergy's tired of all the unmet promises

This approach was not by sheer chance but a political masterstroke by the leadership of Kenya Kwanza towards occupying the house on the hill.

An evangelical Christian himself, President Ruto chose this approach way early on before ever coming up with his “hustler” narrative.

His nationwide tours, accompanied by his close associates, went from one county to another, one church to the other with hefty sums for contributions every Sunday.

No one hates money and so this endeared him to church adherents way before the race began. The donations would be for building churches, expanding some churches, buying furniture for the pews, buying a bus here and building a home for the clergy there... the list was endless. 

However, it came not without criticism; his erstwhile opposition, from the Azimio alliance were forever questioning his motives and endless source of cash but the clergy, all too happy to get a financial boost to get a new roof, did not even look their way.

So committed to the church was Dr Ruto that he promised to protect faith institutions if elected President on August 9.

He assured church leaders of his commitment to safeguard the freedom of worship as provided for in the Constitution.

Ruto promised that there would be no church closed under his watch while undertaking to allow unhindered registration of new churches to allow Kenyans to celebrate the diversity of their faith.

“My running mate and I undertake that we will do whatever it takes to keep this country as a God-fearing nation. We commit that no church will be closed under our watch,” he said during a meeting with church leaders.

“We commit that the registration of churches shall proceed unhindered.

The church repaid Ruto and Gachagua in kind and helped get them to State House and it was time for the rubber to meet the road.

Ruto made it his business to attend a different church every Sunday and the same clergy were ecstatic to host a full president and not just a presidential candidate.

First Lady Rachel Ruto, a self-proclaimed ‘prayer warrior’ and Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi, a full pastor were flying the prayer and Christian flag high even hosting prayer sessions on weekdays and church leaders trooped to State House with big smiles.

The government even held a national prayer day for the drought. He was scoring high on every church matrix. Then the tune changed...

One of the first high-profile church leaders to start criticising the president was former All Saints Cathedral provost Sammy Wainaina.

Days after Ruto declared that the church had "finally rediscovered its place in the country's political scene" after a long time, Wainaina warned the president telling him that he was dividing the country.

According to Wainaina, while churches can provide a place of dialogue for political leaders, they should not become overly active in the country's political process

But the leaders still largely steered clear of speaking their minds about the state of the nation until recently when one of the closest church leaders to Ruto, broke ranks.

Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya Jackson Ole Sapit who offered prayers at the Bomas of Kenya after Ruto was declared the winner, shocked many when he criticised Dr Ruto.

Archbishop Ole Sapit recently warned the Head of State he needs to come out and tell Kenyans the truth that he gave unrealistic promises.

"It's now the moment to face the truth. Just come out and tell Kenyans the promises we made are unrealistic now let us go prioritisation... But if we try to push to achieve what you promised and we all know that we have nothing to deliver the promises, then we are going to break everybody's back, you will even break your back... Let us humble ourselves, face the moment of truth and say this is how we look like..." said Sapit.

A few days later, videos of Neno Evangelism’s Apostle James Ng'ang'a ranting about the high cost of living hit the interwebs and went viral.

While preaching at his Nairobi church, he openly censured the government for what he termed as "overburdening Kenyans with tax hikes."

An angry Ng'ang'a said it was his right as an apostle to speak truth to power and is not afraid of criticising the government daring them to close his church if they wish.

"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.

Taking aim at the government almost concurrently was retired Africa Inland Church (AIC) Bishop Silas Yego. He urged the Kenya Kwanza government to use taxes wisely and cut unnecessary expenditures. 

Bishop Yego called upon state authorities to limit unnecessary travel expenses as he lamented the status of the Kenyan economy.

The 70-year-old retired AIC bishop urged the Kenya Kwanza administration to be receptive to senior citizens' opinions, noting that the current administration lacked a robust advisory board.

Another high-profile church leader to take on the government is Archbishop Muheria of Nyeri Archdiocese. While speaking at Citizen TV studios during an interview on May 16, 2023 said; “Leadership needs to be humane, empathetic, and compassionate. Currently, the leader is rough, insulting, arrogant and imposing. We are going into a very wrong leadership, which is why religious leaders want to talk.”

On July 6 2023, Archbishop Muheria called out politicians for “dancing on the graves of poor people” Kenyans who had died in tragedies that shocked the nation notably Shakahola and the Londiani junction road accident this year as these issues go unresolved and investigated to the chagrin of Kenyans.

He went on to add, “We have instrumentalized misery and poverty and many times weaponised tragedy; when we see something that has gone wrong, we go out with our swords to find a battleground to fight our opponents in a vicious, inhumane way. We need to recover our humanity.”