• The fact-checker has come across one of the misleading accounts of the incident as narrated by some leaders.
• A video of Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua has gone viral on social media where he was talking about the heckling incident.
Image: FILE
ODM leader Raila Odinga's wife Ida Odinga on Sunday had a rough time addressing a group of Catholic women in Meru.
Catholic Women Association in the said county had organised prayer day and Ida was invited as the guest of honour.
She was, however, forced to leave the function prematurely after a group of women booed her while delivering her speech.
The heckling incident sparked huge debate among Kenyans with a section of political leaders making it a subject of discussion at their political rally.
The fact-checker has come across one of the misleading accounts of the incident as narrated by some leaders.
A video of Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua has gone viral on social media where he was talking about the heckling incident.
Gachagua was apparently speaking to a church in the Mt Kenya region on Monday where he gave his thoughts on the matter.
"Na ndio uliona ule bibi ya Kiendawili juzi, alisema bwana yake akichukua urais atafunga makanisa ile ndogo ndogo. Jana alienda Meru, wakristo wa catholic walisema hutaongea hapa wewe ulisema utafunga makanisa ukiwa na bwana yako. Kwa hivyo huezi tisha sisi utafunga makanisa alafu uonge hapa," Gachagua said.
Loosely translates to: "Raila's wife said that if Raila wins the presidency, he will shut all small churches. Yesterday (Sunday) she went to Meru and the Catholic faithful said she won't talk because she said she will close the churches together with her husband. They told her that she won't threaten them that she will close churches and then speak at their church function".
The fack-checker debunked the remarks by Gachagua, and found that his narrative of the incident is not factual.
Ida has never said she will close churches if Raila wins the presidency.
Besides, the reason why she was booed is not because of her remarks on churches.
The fack-checker established that trouble started after other leaders were told that they would not speak at the function and that only Ida was the only one to speak.
The directive caused murmurs among the group of women who felt that the leaders present were to speak.
Organisers of the event also said that some leaders had hired women to cheer them on during the function.
Gachagua went on to say that a group of politicians, seemingly from the Azimio side, are threatening the church and opposing donations.
He claimed that the ODM leader through his allied MP brought a motion in parliament seeking to ban harambees in churches
"Kwa hivyo wakristu mjue, the church of christ for once has a candidate ambaye ni mcha mungu na amabaye anheshimu mungu. Wale wengine wanatisha Kanisa, wanasema ni makosa kutoa matoleo kanisani. Alileta msaada kupitia mtu yake anaitwa John Mbadi kwa bunge, ati harambee ya kanisa ipigwe marufuku tukakataaa."
Loosely translates to: "For that reason, Christians in Kenya must know that they have a candidate who fears God and is faithful to Him. Others are threatening the church saying that it is a crime to give offerings to churches. He brought a bill to parliament through his ally John Mbadi that church harambees should be banned and we said no".
The fack-checker debunked the remarks and was able to discover that some statements were not true.
For instance, there is no political leader in the country who has publicly threatened the church over donations.
Many have raised concerns over the source of donations being given by some political leaders but no one has ever said it is wrong to give offerings and donations.
Also, Mbadi has never brought a bill in the National Assembly seeking to ban Church Harambees.