• Ruto defends his huge donations as an investment in heaven
• 'Clerics who accept tainted money are accessories to the crime'
Image: FILE
Religious leaders should stop receiving money from theft suspects, Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua said Tuesday.
“Religious leaders should be at the forefront naming and shaming the suspected thieves. It is ironical for them to accept money from these suspected thieves,” Mutua said.
In a thin-veiled jab thrown at Deputy President William Ruto, the governor accused corrupt leaders of contributing huge amounts of money at funds raisers for churches to win the hearts of the congregants.
Ruto openly defends his huge donations, saying he is investing in heaven.
Mutua, who was addressing the opening ceremony of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association Machakos county chapter at Sai Rock Hotel in Mombasa, challenged the clerics to refuse graft money.
He said when clerics accept money from suspected thieves, they become accessories to the crime committed. “You are actually also indirectly committing a crime because you are accepting the proceeds of corruption. When you accept graft money, it means you are also corrupt.”
Mutua, who is among those who have declared they will be in the ballot papers alongside Ruto for the 2022 presidential race, regretted that religious leaders were used by corrupt politicians in their campaigns.
“What is even sad is that thieves come to our churches, give money, and our religious leaders publicly praise them and ask God to continue blessing them, 'because God loves a cheerful giver'. In other words, we are asking God to allow them to continue stealing from public coffers,” the governor said.
Such preachers should know they are guilty of blood money, he said. “They are guilty of murder because if you accept money that was meant to build hospitals and people die because of corruption, then that is blood money.”
Mutua noted that for the country to sustain the fight against corruption, there is a need to create a society that is morally averse to graft.
“I propose that the effects of corruption be a subject (to be taught) in our education curriculum from Standard One to the doctorate level. Our students should be primed to reject and to vehemently fight graft,” he said.
He said this will help students grow up hating corruption.
“They should understand and know from their young age that corruption is like poison. It kills and can kill if not dealt with thoroughly and without mercy. When this is done, our people will grow up and serve our nation as astute leaders, judges, and officers,” he said.
(Edited by Eliud Kibii)