A yr after greater than 400 members of a Christian sect starved to death in eastern Kenya’s Shakahola forest, a Kenyan task force is asking for policy regulations it hopes will allow the federal government to higher balance religious liberty and human rights.
Paul Mackenzie, who led Shakahola’s Good News International Church, remains to be in custody awaiting the final result of the case filed against him by the state. He and his associates have been charged with the death of 191 minors, and authorities consider the victims acted under direction from Mackenzie, an end times preacher who promised them heaven in the event that they starved to death.
“The policy goals at strengthening the appropriate for the usage of freedom of faith and at same time to guard the general public from potential harm arising from the practice of faith and belief,” the Religious Organizations Policy report stated in its introduction. “It ensures freedom of faith and belief is just not used as an avenue to abuse human rights and dignity.”
Its most wide-reaching mandate would force all churches looking for to be legally registered with the federal government to first affiliate to existing denominations or umbrella groups. These groups include the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK), the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Kenya National Congress of Pentecostal Churches, the Kenya Coalition of Churches Alliance and Ministries, and the Organization of African Instituted Churches.
The current law requires churches to register with the Registrar of Societies but doesn’t require them to affiliate with any recognized religious bodies.
Working with the umbrella groups “is a mechanism for self-regulation. It is a greater model of regulation,” said Kepha Nyandega, the EAK’s secretary general. “Being accountable is biblical; even Jesus was accountable to God.”
This support reflects a pivot for the EAK, which in 2016 had previously suggested that this level of regulation would hamper evangelism efforts and the expansion of the church.
Nyandega explained he favored this proposal, nevertheless, because it will allow umbrella groups to self-regulate and crack down when their very own members turn out to be errant.
“If the bill becomes law, it’ll bring order within the religious sector and it’ll also make it easier for religious organizations to operate and work together in a clearly defined legal environment,” he said.
At the identical time, Nyandega says, small churches worry that larger congregations “may try to manage who may control the membership of the proposed Religious Affairs Commission.” In turn, he has assured small churches that the proposed laws determines the composition of the commission, and that the commission will represent all interest groups.
The report calls for clergy to have a minimum level of theological training; for the federal government to control religious broadcast content; and for it to more strictly and routinely implement constructing code, sanitation, and noise pollution standards. Any recent religious organizations looking for government registration will now be vetted by National Intelligence Services (NIS) and county security intelligence committees.
The 14-person task force was commissioned in May 2023 by President William Ruto. Former National NCCK secretary general Mutava Musyimi led the group, which included Christian, Muslim, and Hindu professionals in addition to experts of skilled bodies. The current EAK chairman and archbishop of Kenya Assemblies of God, Philip Kitoto, and the previous chairman and current archbishop of Deliverance Churches in Kenya, Mark Kariuki, were amongst those serving.
Among its deliverables is a bill that may make the group’s 11 recommendations law. Legislators will debate the bill when the attorney general sends it to parliament later this yr.
Members of the general public and churches should still have a probability to influence the law that may come out of parliament. Most government-sponsored bills (just like the one in query) go first to parliament for debate. Afterward, a committee solicits public feedback and writes a report incorporating the views of the general public before presenting it to parliament, where the report is once more debated and amendments are made before the bill finally becomes law.
This report was released to the general public just weeks after young people led country-wide protests against the Ruto government and criticized the church for its close relationship with political power. Given this timing, pastors say they’ve little incentive to publicly oppose the proposed regulation.
“Remember,” said Tony Kiamah of River of God Church in Nairobi, a Kenya Assemblies of God congregation. “The Gen Zs said they may come for the church after they’re done with the federal government.”
The bill would also create the Religious Affairs Commission, which can be led by a Registrar of Religious Organizations (RRO) and create recent regulatory standards.
Despite what appear to be good intentions, some church leaders worry that additional government oversight will only encourage corruption and that some government officials may reap the benefits of churches that fail to meet the necessities and demand bribes.
“Are we going to permit the federal government to control churches when the federal government cannot regulate itself?” said Kiamah.
To him, the important thing to stopping one other Shakahola is just not religious regulations, because existing institutions are too weak. For instance, although the federal government has tried to ban cults and spiritual extremists and forestall false preachers from freely operating, this still persists.
“The law is there to cope with such matters, but corruption is what has hindered our ability to cope with such issues,” he said. “We should strengthen the police service, the intelligence, the judiciary, and other government institutions, and we can be out of the woods.”
The Gikuyu, Embu, Meru and Akamba (GEMA) Unity Forum, a gaggle that represents Pentecostals in predominantly central Kenya, said the proposed regulations would depart them “gagged as a church.”
“Any changes must be subjected to a referendum,” said Nicholas Ikui, a GEMA leader. “Some churches were established before Kenya got her independence. So, I ponder how such can be registered afresh.”
Religious organizations need the federal government because they lack the capability and means to punish errant churches, says Joseph Mutungi, the bishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Machakos diocese. At the identical time, “the federal government doesn’t have the capability to find out spiritual matters, which only the Church and other religious organs offer.”
If the report’s recommendations are implemented, the federal government could investigate claims and complaints against problematic churches. If those were verified, the RRO could deregister and publish names of people and groups whose preaching and teachings are seen to be extremist and cultic. Additionally, if the bill passes, any church leader who gives misleading information to the federal government can be liable to being fined or imprisoned.
The task force has also really helpful revising the national curriculum to coach students in regards to the dangers of spiritual extremism and emphasize the necessity for religious tolerance.
While receiving the report, Ruto promised to guard freedom of faith in addition to the Kenyan people.
“We will proceed to safeguard and protect the liberty of faith, but at the identical time mitigate its potential abuse to harm Kenyans,” he said last month.
Moves by the federal government to control churches more directly are usually not recent. As far back as 2015, the federal government had plans to control churches.
Under the plan recommend by then attorney general Githu Muigai, religious entity registration applications needed to be accompanied by personal details about its leaders.
Church leaders were to submit a replica of their national identity card, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) certificate, personal identification pin, a passport photograph, a licensed copy of a theological certificate from a duly registered and accredited theological institution, and a tax clearance or exemption certificate.
Religious leaders pushed back, claiming that being forced to declare their salary would require them to pay taxes and that the federal government was asking for private details that previously churches had not been required to offer to receive registration. The protest ultimately killed Muigai’s efforts.
