NAIROBI, Kenya
The Anglican Church has challenged the national government to formulate laws that will see proper regulation of freedom to worship in the country.
In a statement read by Rev. Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit, the church said the current laws on religious activities were inadequate.
“The Anglican Church recognizes the current statutes are inadequate to deal with religious extremists and cultic bodies that operate under the guise of religious organizations,” Ole Sapit said.
The church pledged to support the government in its efforts to deal with dubious religious organizations.
“The church will consider and support a governing law that will stem the proliferation of extremist or cultic practices but must protect and promote religious freedoms for all our citizens,” he said.
The call by the Anglican church to have religious activities regulated comes just a day after a commission formed to look into religious operations in the country was sworn in.
President William Ruto appointed the commission on May 5, 2023, to tighten religious institutions’ laws.
The task force has been mandated to identify gaps in the legal, institutional, and governance systems that have allowed cults and extremist groups to operate, and make proposals on how the public can report such cases.
The team will also come up with proposals on standards and minimum certification requirements for all religious organizations and their leaders to they registered and allowed to operate.
This comes after the discovery of the doomsday cult led by Pastor Paul Mackenzie at the now infamous Shakahola forest in Kilifi County.
By Tuesday, the toll in the religious killing stood at 133 after 21 bodies were exhumed.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, who was in Malindi to oversee the resumption of exhumations that were suspended last week due to bad weather, described the Shakahola deaths as a highly organized crime.
“I am afraid we have a lot of graves. The damage is quite extensive. The process is far from over.”
The CS also revealed that detectives were zeroing in on Mackenzie’s co-conspirators.
Police believe most of the bodies belong to followers of Mackenzie, who is accused of ordering them to starve themselves “to meet Jesus”.
“We condole the families who lost their loved ones in the Shakahola and caution the public to be alert and report any suspicious religious practices,” Ole Sapiti said.
