Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga Sunday castigated a section of church leaders for participating in
“political agitation association with injustices”.
He spoke during Christmas mass at St. Peters’ Anglican Church in Bondo, Siaya County.
Odinga accused the church of failure to stand firm against injustice in the country.
“The church should be the conscience of the people and stand firm against injustice. I will not give a blanket criticism, but we have seen church leaders associate themselves with injustice in our country,” he said.
“I want to plead with our church. Please wake up.”
He termed the church leaders as a disgrace to the pulpit.
He singled out members of the clergy who participated in the August 15 presidential results announcement by IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi.
“What happened on 15th August was unfortunate, and you saw the church standing in front of the cameras and trying to sanitize a very flawed process,” said Odinga.
President William Ruto was then declared the winner in the contested results.
Odinga said after he lodged a petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the results, some leaders, particularly from the Anglican Church, approached members of his camp and asked them to withdraw the petition.
“I am a Christian and very sad to see the leadership of our Anglican Church getting involved in political agitation and asking Azimio politicians who had petitioned the elections to withdraw the petition supposedly in the interest of communal unity,” said Odinga.
“They put pressure on elders of the community to say whoever does not withdraw the petition is going to be cursed by the community. Shame on those kinds of leaders. They know themselves.”
He criticized church leaders who have been giving political leaders a platform during church services to bash their political opponents and carry out smear campaigns.
“You have seen some churches turned into avenues of political agitation and campaigns. Every Sundays, the political leadership is going to churches, supposedly to pray, but once the service is over they take over the church and use that platform to vilify and insult some Kenyans as the clergy sitting behind cheers,” said Odinga.
“The church should not be used as a political platform, but today the top leadership of this country is, every Sunday, in this church and that church shouting at us, ‘oh the government has done this and that.”
He said government programs should be given in government offices or platforms, not in the churches.
