Politicians should not be allowed to use the pulpit lest they get cursed for politicking and dividing the nation, a Catholic priest has said.
Father Vincent Alicho of Kiembeni Church, Mombasa, said Kenya is fragile and divisive politics serves the devil’s purpose.
Such disruption, Alicho said, may result in bloodshed.
“Politicians are servants and elected to represent the will of the people. There are grave issues they should concentrate on and not politicking. Let them reach out to the underprivileged,” the priest said.
He said the pulpit is reserved for preaching the word of God and unite.
“If you preach good news you will be blessed, if you don’t, you will be cursed,” he said on Sunday.
Alicho said politicians have made the pulpit a place to sanitize ill-gotten money.
Alicho is opposed to political harembees. He believes the role of church in public life is advocating for moral values.
There are allegations some clerics are bought by rich politicians through huge monetary enticements to sway their faithful in a certain political direction.
But some clerics say politicians are believers and are welcome to speak from pulpits.
They say the church is for the lost and not necessarily the righteous.
Last week, Anglican Church of Kenya archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit said fundraisers should be held outside the church.
ACK, Catholic Church and the National Council of Churches in Kenya wants politicians and their money out of the pulpit. The churches say some funds are corruptly earned.
Alicho said graft is the enemy of the economy.
“It widens the rift between the rich and the poor. Greed and ethnicity break nations,” he said.
