Keep off our sadaka, tithe, clerics warn Ruto

Kenyan pastors and bishops are having sleepless nights. A raft of recommendations contained in a report and a Senate Bill is giving the men and women of the cloth nightmares.

The clerics feel that President William Ruto, who has been nicknamed Zakayo (the biblical tax collector), is hell-bent on taxing sadaka (offerings) and tithes. The pastors and bishops are now up in arms against proposals that could require them to account for sadaka and tithes. They blame the proposals on Zakayo’s harsh taxation policies.

According to the churches, a majority of which are from Pentecostal organizations, Ruto, who was once an evangelist and has recently indicated that he may return to preaching after retiring from politics, is touching a live wire if he implements the proposals.

First, a 14-member team headed by former Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi, who was the former National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) General Secretary, was mandated to find a solution to religious extremism after hundreds of followers of controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie were found dead in Shakahola, Kilifi County. The team has handed in its report, complete with a raft of recommendations, which have rubbed the clerics the wrong way.

Secondly, the Religious Organisations Bill 2024, which was gazetted on August 23, is currently in the Senate.

In April last year, the Senate established an Ad-hoc committee to investigate the proliferation of religious organizations and to probe the circumstances that led to the deaths of hundreds of people in Shakahola, a move that informed the drafting of the Religious Organisations Bill 2024.

National Chairman of the Church and Clergy Association of Kenya (CCAK) Hudson Ndeda said the goals of the report from the taskforce and the Senate Bill are schemes by Zakayo to tax churches and other religious organizations. Bishop Ndeda expressed shock that a President who positions himself as a God-fearing man is turning against the Church, which he claims supported him in the last election.

He stated that sadaka and tithes should not be touched, adding that it is within the purview of church committees to determine how support from the faithful is spent.

Ndeda mentioned that churches are planning to move to court to stop any attempts to regulate them. In his interpretation of the Senate report, Ndeda argues that the government’s intention is to oversee spending in churches.

“They are saying they want to know whether the offerings and tithes are benefiting society. When did offerings and tithes become money that serves society? The government doesn’t understand the work of offerings and tithes.

“The government is looking for a way to tax the Church, and they have not found it. They are now hiding behind the Shakahola deaths to begin taxing them,” the Bishop complains.

He further asserts that the Church is already regulated through umbrella organizations and needs no further control by the state.

According to Ndeda, the regulations propose what he terms “coercion fines” to limit preaching.

“Pastors will be afraid to preach to people because they fear being fined for coercing them to give offerings.

“How do you tell whether someone has been coerced or not? They (the government) have said that a pastor will be fined Sh10 million for coercion or face five years in jail,” Ndeda laments.

He argues that prophesying to people should not be construed as coercion, as it is biblical, adding, “We are telling the government that it is looking for taxes in the wrong place.”

Bishop Margaret Maheri claims the report and the proposed law seek to curtail freedom of worship. “If there is anyone who is using the Church to commit crimes, they should be prosecuted,” she says.

Another bishop, Zachariah Karanja, states that the drafters of the report believe all preachers exhibit the same behavior as Pastor Mackenzie.

“Mackenzie is an individual who can be held accountable for his actions. Churches are independent organizations and cannot be subjected to control by the government,” Bishop Karanja says.

He adds: “Church matters can only be addressed with God. Government officials come to us most of the time when things get tough. It is shocking that they want to control the affairs of the same churches they turn to for prayers and miracles.”

Bishop Karanja urges the government to use its resources to crack down on rogue pastors, just as it deals with illicit brews and corruption.

“Sadaka is not offered by the faithful to entertain pastors and bishops. They are used in the running of church affairs, including supporting the poor. The government has failed on this one,” he complains.

The clerics assert that Ruto is a preacher like them and should not support oppression against his fellow evangelists.

The Mutava Musyimi-led taskforce, as seen by the Nairobian, recommended, among other things, the adoption of a hybrid model of regulation for religious organizations, comprising self-regulation and government oversight within the context of the Constitution.