Respect church's stand on donations

 

Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops Chairman Maurice Muhatia with Bishop of Kericho Catholic Diocese Alfred Rotich during a media briefing on the state of the Nation held in Nairobi on November 14, 2024. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

In an unprecedented move, the Catholic Church rejected donations by the President and Nairobi Governor over the weekend.

On Sunday, President William Ruto donated Sh600,000 to the Soweto Catholic Church choir, Sh2 million for the construction of the priest's house in the same church and pledged to donate a bus for the parish and an additional Sh3 million. Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja donated Sh200,000. 

The church must have appeared rude and unappreciative to some, especially at this time when money is in very short supply.

But all said and done, the donations were bound to raise suspicion coming only days after Catholic bishops issued a hard-hitting statement that accused the Ruto government of peddling lies and allowing health and education sectors, among others, to deteriorate as runaway corruption hurt ordinary citizens.

While the donations may have been well-intentioned - to help the church to solve its problems - they could be interpreted as aimed at placating the church to soften its stance against the government.

In any case, church donations by politicians have been a hot potato since the campaigns for the 2022 elections when politicians, including the current President, gave clergymen huge amounts of money, a move that many people saw as aimed at winning the votes of the worshipers.

During the period, some leaders, including former President Uhuru Kenyatta accused church leaders of taking corruption money from politicians. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission similarly accused corrupt politicians of channelling their ill-gotten wealth to religious organisations.

Consequently, Catholic Church leaders banned cash donations by politicians and directed that any donations from them should be done through banks and mobile money transfers for reference purposes.

The Anglican Church also banned politicians from donating money to the church and also from the pulpits as political aspirants had turned them into campaign platforms.

The church has in the recent past received a lot of flak from the public in the belief it has gone to bed with the government. By rejecting donations from politicians, the Catholic Church therefore wants to protect its name; to avoid speculation that it has been compromised by the government or it is being 'bribed' to end its criticism of the government.

Politicians must respect the Church's stand and refrain from making donations, especially when they are unsolicited.

It is interesting that Dr Ruto went ahead to make donations to the church even after he warned State officers from participating in fundraising and other philanthropic activities in July this year, which led to the publishing of the Public Fundraising Appeals Bill, 2024, that the Catholic bishops cited in their rejection of the presidential donation.

Politicians should stop making unwanted donations and speeches in churches. To quote Ruto, they should go to church because they have a plan to go to heaven.