Is Kenya’s President Discriminating against Churches
As Kenya moves to opening the country, the government has issued guidelines.
However, Kenyan clergy are crying foul at the new rules governing church openings.
According to the new rules, children under age 13 cannot attend churches and
neither can people over age 59.
According to Kenyan pastors, this is discriminatory against those of faith. They
point to the fact that these age groups are allowed to travel in the people’s main
means of transportation-matatus, which are usually over-crowded since social
distancing cannot easily be maintained in a vehicle the size of a mini-van. People in
these age groups are also allowed go to supermarkets and any market no matter
how crowded they may be.
But they cannot go to church. According to Church
leaders, the President has openly shown that he is against the Church of Jesus Christ.
Well, he has also now excluded himself from being able to attend church services
and perhaps even mosques, like the one he attended last year to pray and worship
with Muslims. What about funerals and weddings held in churches? Is the
President and all Kenyans not allowed to attend these? Pastors in Nakuru, west of
Nairobi, have rejected the new directives and are vowing to go against them.
Reportedly, some of the faithful are crossing over into neighboring Tanzania to
attend church services there and then returning home.
One pastor in Machakos in Eastern Kenya argued that church attendance is
voluntary and that pastors cannot be forced to release the names of people who
attend. According to these pastors, churches cannot guarantee who will be
attending, therefore, they cannot be forced to place nametags on seats prior to
services, which is what the government is requesting.
The new guidelines have
exposed the developing narrative that President Uhuru Kenyatta is against the
Christian church.
Last year, the President attended a mosque and worshipped,
dressed in the Muslim regalia, and prostrated himself in prayer with the Muslim
men, a move that some considered contrary to his own professed Catholic faith.
There have also been complaints that the President is being advised by atheists who
would like to see the Church as well as all faiths in Kenya dismantled.
Though the Church has accepted the importance of being careful during this time of
Covid19, Church leaders believe that the restrictions should be equally applied to all
sectors of the society.
By Teddy Njoroge Kamau (PhD)
HTBluff Associates
Diaspora Messenger Senior Columnist
https://www.nation.co.ke/kenya
Is Kenya’s President Discriminating against Churches
