How outspoken clerics checked the Executive and shaped politics

Vocal church leaders, Bishops Manasses Kuria, David Gitari, Alexander Muge, Henry Okullu, Ndingi’ Mwana a’Nzeki and Timothy Njoya played a big role in the fight for the second liberation in the 1990s.

After successfully fighting for return of multi-party politics, they convened forums like Ufungamano Initiative that led to enactment of the 2010 Constitutional, which further opened up the democratic space.

They fought corruption and demanded accountability in public service and government institutions. In the mid-2000s, then voice of the church disappeared, because their successors went to bed with successive governments. That led to resurgence of mega corruption scandals and impunity, as the church remained silent.

The return of human rights abuses like extra-judicial killings, abductions, impunity and grand corruption still persist under the Kenya Kwanza administration. A new crop of fiery clergy is however emerging to speak for the masses. They include Archbishop Anthony Muheria (Nyeri Catholic Diocese), Reverend Canon Sammy Wainaina, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Advisor for Anglican Communion Affairs, and now RT Reverend Charles Ongi’njo of Maseno South.

The late Bishop Alexander Muge of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Diocese of Eldoret, died in mysterious circumstances at a time he was leading the struggle for social justice.

He started his activism while serving as an assistant provost at All Saints Cathedral where he was preaching powerful anti-establishment sermons and also writing hard hitting articles in The Target, a magazine earlier edited by Henry Okullu.

He quickly rose through the ranks, before being appointed Bishop of ACK Eldoret Diocese. Some thought Muge’s relocation to Eldoret could tone him down but they were disappointed.

He became more daring and a darling of the media not only because of his sermons but because of frequent verbal exchanges with powerful people in government like former ministers now deceased Joseph Kamotho and Nicholas Biwott.

Muge not only led in the fight against corruption, but he was also on the forefront in the struggle for democracy in the 1980s. He played a key role in the relaunch of the National Council of Churches of Kenya in 1984.

In August 1985, Muge made big after he spoke about injustice, describing it as a big issue. He told a gathering in Nairobi that justice was the back bone of unity, without which every society becomes dysfunctional.

He said: “Justice is the backbone of peace; it is the backbone of unity and love. Take away justice and there is no love, peace and unity.”

In 1988, he joined Gitari, Okullu, Ndingi and Njoya in loudly opposing the controversial queue voting system that disenfranchised voters. The ruling Kanu hierarchy also rigged out many politicians advocating for change.

Dr Bernard Khaemba of St Paul’s University has written extensively on the work of the National Conference of Churches, Kenya (NCCK) and the influence of its leaders like Bishop Gitari.

In an article he wrote to mark the Anglican All Saints Cathedral centenary celebrations, Khaemba delved into the civic responsibility the church undertook to bring change in the country.

He also looked at the role played by clerics at All Saints Cathedral in the struggle against totalitarianism during Kanu’s single party regime, when there was limited scope for public discourse.

“The body politic was rent by surveillance, censorship, abductions and detentions without trial, among other forms of systematic torture by the police,” wrote Khaemba.

And so clerical leadership at All Saints Cathedral provided a strategic platform for national discourse in the unfolding democratisation.

He says the Cathedral’s proximity to Uhuru (Freedom) Park made it a natural place of refuge for public protesters at the park, fleeing police brutality. The engagement of the clergymen took the form of sermons, publications, the stimulus of critical national debate and the provision of refuge for political activists.

As a member of NCCK, the Anglican Church was represented on the management boards of influential church publications – like Target and Beyond magazine that was edited by Bedan Mbugua, another government critic.

Dr Khaemba also follows Okullu’s story from 1971, when as a soft-spoken cleric, he resigned from the position of Editor at Target and Lengo newspapers, to become the first Indigenous Provost of the All Saints Cathedral. Predictably, the sermons were not well received by pro-establishment personalities

“His sermons were based on Old Testament books of the prophets. He consistently challenged the vices of corruption, land grabbing and ethnic bias in the context of employment and education opportunities, as well as detention without trial,” wrote Khaemba.

On July, 7, 1997, the All Saints Cathedral also played a big role in th Saba Saba Day protests. Security forces stormed the All Saints Cathedral, and physically abused and tear gassed worshippers and activists who were camping in the church.

“Pews were bloodied, furniture was destroyed and the floor of the cathedral was littered with tear gas canisters,” says Khaemba.

Rev Njoya also still carries scars he bore from his engagement in the struggle, which culminated in him being seriously assaulted by armed goons near the Holy Family Basilica in the city centre.

In his 1990 New Year’s Day sermon, Reverend Njoya denounced one–party political systems in Africa, predicting that they were doomed to fail just as they had done in Eastern Europe.

Khaemba says another sermon on October 5 1996 called on the repressive Kanu Government to enter into dialogue with its citizenry. His sermon, based on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, was titled, “God’s Justice Triumphs by Reason Through Faith”.

When Archbishop ‘a Nzeki died in March 2020, The Standard carried a story headlined “Ndingi, the humble bishop who risked his life for the better’. That aptly described who the man was and the role he played in the struggle for change.

He helped the late Nobel Peace laureate, Prof Wangari Maathai evade the security forces during a brutal government crackdown on human rights activists in the early 1990s.

Archbishop Mwana a’Nzeki was part of the plan which saw Prof Maathai disguise herself as a sick Muslim Somali woman, before being driven some 200km (125 miles) through several security force checkpoints to his home in Nakuru town in Kenya’s famous Rift Valley region.

Now retired Bishop Maurice Crowley of Kitale Diocese, who knew the cleric for 40 years, told the BBC after his death, he remembered him as a man “who took on the powerful people of the earth, fearlessly and without rancour”.

“He always remained friends with those who he would have regarded as doing wrong in order to correct them, and people listened to him,” Bishop Crowley added.

Kuria was the senior most of them all and also played a big part in organising opposition parties. He unsuccessfully tried to mediate the fallout between the Kijana Wamalwa and Raila Odinga factions of Ford Kenya in 1995.