• President William Ruto on Friday last week formed a 17-member task force to review legal and regulatory frameworks governing religious institutions in Kenya.
• Pastor Dorcas said religious leaders who engage in illegal activities should carry their own cross, saying the Church agenda is a simple agenda for revival only.
Image: DPPS
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's spouse Pastor Dorcas Rigathi has criticised the government over its intentions to regulate churches in the wake of the Shakahola tragedy.
Speaking on Tuesday at Christian Church International in Kiambu, Pastor Dorcas said that divine matters should be left to religious leaders.
"If you get one person who is doing the wrong thing, get that one person, it is wrong to have everybody together and make a denomination or even a religion, you say all this people are criminals. Even when we have children, they are all different," she said.
President William Ruto on Friday last week formed a 17-member task force to review legal and regulatory frameworks governing religious institutions in Kenya.
He appointed the Reverend Mutava Musyimi to chair the committee which has a mandate to deliver its findings within six months.
The decision followed hue and cry from Kenyans after the horrific discovery of dozens of mass graves at the Shakahola Forest where over 100 bodies were dug up.
The victims are believed to have been indoctrinated by Good News International Church pastor Paul Mackenzie to starve themselves to death in the hope of 'meeting Jesus.'
Pastor Dorcas said religious leaders who engage in illegal activities should carry their own cross, saying the Church agenda is a simple agenda for revival only.
"When it comes to matters divine they better leave it to us and our God. The more you try to persecute the church, the bigger and greater it becomes," she said.
"You may not understand it, but it is God who called us and it is about the word of God," she added.
While forming the task force, Ruto said the team's main responsibilities will include identifying gaps that have allowed extremist religious organisations to set up shop in Kenya.
The team will also be expected to formulate a legal framework aimed at preventing radical religious entities from operating locally.
The committee members include Bishop Mark Kariuki, Bishop (Dr) Eli Rop, Archbishop Maurice Muhatia, Judy Thongori, Rev (Dr) Alphonse Kanga, Bishop Philip Kitoto and Dr Faridun Abdalla.
Others are Prof Musili Wambua, Joseph Khalende Wabwire, Mary Awuor Kitegi, Charles Kanjama, Leah Kasera, Nancy Murega and Wilson Wanyanga.
Martin Ndiwa Talian and Maria Goretti Nyariki will serve as the task force's joint secretaries.