Kenyan politicians love to sweep their dirt under the carpet with hefty donations during church Harambee in the name of giving back to the good Lord. It has been the norm to the extent that some religious leaders feel entitled to the contributions by the corrupt leader.
Just the other day, Bishop Timothy Gichere of the ACK Mt Kenya Central diocese slammed leaders who have been castigating churches for accepting donations from politicians said to be proceeds of corruption during fundraisers, saying that they will continue receiving the money until the courts declare such leaders corrupt. He added that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and that the church cannot distinguish between ‘clean’ money and money gotten from corruption scandals.
Anglican Church of Kenya through its archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit said it was evil to clean proceeds of corruption by donating to charity and the church will now review donations made by politicians. He committed to rallying up the Anglican clergy and people of goodwill to fight the vice.
“Let us not allow Harambee money to become a subtle way of sanitising corrupt leaders,” the bishop said.
But the remarks were not taken kindly by some politicians who criticized the move among them Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa. Murkomen said that politicians who attended church functions were there on invites from the church, telling the church to ban sinners from giving tithing and offerings.
Undeterred, Sapit took a jibe at leaders who were undermining institutions that are mandated to fight corruption.
“State institutions mandated to fight corruption are deliberately being undermined, discredited, neglected or underfunded to weaken them. As Kenyans and God’s children, we must say no to those undermining those institutions and putting blocks against the war on corruption,” he noted
Other archbishops and a number of politicians have joined the bandwagon in rooting out corruption evil in churches.
