Kenyan Finance Bill Protesters Confront Christian Leaders

In Kenya, youth protests against planned tax increases have served as a wake-up call for the church.

They have shaken a powerful institution, in a country where more than 80% of the population, including the president, are Christian.

Young protesters accused the church of being biased towards the government, and took action against politicians who used the pulpit as a political platform.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Catholic leaders responded to this challenge.

They organised a special mass for young people from churches in and around Nairobi, to honour those killed by police in anti-tax protests.

Hundreds of young people gathered at the Holy Family Church to pray for the dead.

Just a few weeks ago, hymns from the church altar interrupted Sunday Mass.

It was an unprecedented protest by young people – the digitally savvy generation known as Generation Z, or Gen-Z.

They felt that the church did not support their campaign against the strict tax increases.

Now Bishop Simon Kamumuyi tried to convince them that their cries had been heard.

“I know that young people sometimes feel disappointed even in the church,” he said.

“We would like to renew our commitment to serve you. We may have been wrong… May the Lord forgive us as a church for failing you even before God.”

He also urged them to be patient in pursuing their dreams, follow the church’s guidance, and repent for any sins they committed during the protests.

“We don’t want to lose you, and we don’t want to lose our young people,” he said with unparalleled frankness. “The Catholic bishops are very concerned about losing this generation,” he added, urging them to maintain peace and protect their lives.

The service was interspersed with rousing singing and ended with loud cheers as people waved Kenyan flags.

Many attendees said the service was a welcome first step, but it came too late.

“I feel like the church realized for the first time that young people are serious,” said Yibo, who attended the protests before they turned violent and asked to remain anonymous.

“I also feel that the church has not really been on our side. It has been hesitant for a long time.

“The youth have been more determined, and they have done better than the church in the current economic change. We can hear that the president is taking the youth more seriously than he is taking the church.”

Church organizations lobbied against the tax bill, but it was the youth who took to the streets in huge numbers who forced President William Ruto to back down.

Now, Generation Z protesters are denouncing what they see as the cozy relationship between Christian and political institutions.

Time and again, on the sidelines of the Mass, doubts were raised about visits by church leaders to the presidential palace, including during protests.

“We believe the president is buying the church,” said Meshack Mwendwa.

“Church leaders are seen on social media holding envelopes (next to) CEOs and permanent cabinet members,” he added, “and that’s not what we want as young people, and now is the time for change.”

One of the changes they demanded, and obtained, was an end to the lavish practice known as “harambi” — politicians giving large sums of money to the church.

Such donations can buy political influence on Sunday morning.

The protest movement aimed to stop that – they called it #OccupyChurch.

Some even protested against President Ruto’s attendance at a church-sponsored event, but he supported their position.

“When it comes to political issues on the platform, I am 100 percent biased,” he said in a nationally broadcast media roundtable.

“We should not use the pulpit in churches or any other place of worship to pursue politics. That is not right.”

Several days later, he banned state employees and public officials from making public charitable donations, and ordered the Attorney General to develop a mechanism for organized and transparent contributions.

But the president himself was part of this political culture, turning the pulpit into a campaign platform.

“His political message was actually driven within the church,” says Rev. Chris Kinyanjui, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya.

“So people feel they have a Christian government.”

Mr. Kinyanjui said Mr. Ruto’s Christian narrative made it difficult for many pastors to hold him accountable. He added that they were acting like “shareholders of this administration.”

“Our president speaks from the pulpit. Do you know what a pulpit means? He cannot be questioned. So, he has become a very powerful figure in Kenyan politics and church circles. Generation Z is asking, ‘We don’t know the difference between government and church.’”

The BBC asked the Kenyan government for a response, but a spokesman said he was unable to comment at the moment. He was speaking in the shadow of sweeping changes Mr Ruto has made to the government and security services in response to the protests.

The reaction of young Kenyans could reshape the way power works in Kenya.

They constitute the vast majority of the population, and are outside the expected political dynamics.

The president is listening now, and the church is listening too.

“We are the church,” Michelle Mbugua said outside the church as the service ended.

“If the church shows that it does not support us, we turn away from it. If we are not there, there will be no church. So, they have to listen to our grievances. Because we are the church.”

Pastor Kinyanjui goes further, emphasizing what he sees as the fragility of the social contract with Kenyan youth. He admits that the leadership of the National Youth Council of Kenya was concerned that Kenya might go the same way as Sudan.

There, the youth revolution was aborted by a military coup, eventually leading to civil war.

“We were happy that the president was able to defuse the crisis.” [this crisis]“He said, ‘Because if he had signed this funding bill into law, who knows what we would have been like.’”

The National Council of Christian Churches in Kenya came out “very quietly” against the finance bill, said Pastor Kinyanjui. In the future, the council will adopt a strategy of “initiating, showing up, expressing the voice and awareness of the community… by questioning and correcting the system.”

“In a way, we see Generation Z doing the Lord’s work, and I think that’s the thing that’s made a lot of pastors wake up.”