Reject ‘dirty’ money from politicians, Governor Mutua tells churches – VIDEO
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has called on churches to join in the ongoing fight against graft in the country by rejecting questionable donations from politicians.
Seeming to add his voice to the growing debate on whether churches should continue accepting politicians’ donations, Mr Mutua called on the churches to vet the source of such donations before accepting them.
This, he said, will go a long way in adding an impetus to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s war on corruption in the country.
The Governor maintained that religious institutions have all the rights to reject ‘dirty’ money and should not hide under the guise that they lack the capacity to determine the source of such proceeds.
“It is not enough for churches to say they are fighting corruption or want to see action while still receiving corrupt money. God does not need dirty and blood money for his work,” Governor Mutua said while speaking at the African Inland Church (AIC) National Women Prayer Conference on Sunday.
‘DIRTY MONEY’
“I reiterate my call for churches to question the source of some money being brought to do God’s work. Receiving stolen goods is a sin and the church is wise enough to come up with a formula of identifying bad money,” he added.
Last month, a section of clergies under the umbrella group Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, vowed to continue accepting money from politicians despite calls for churches to stop accepting donations from politicians.
The clergies said that it was unfortunate that the matter has been politicized, yet politicians in the country have played a huge role in the development of many churches across different parts in the country.
However, Dr Mutua further reiterated that the country cannot grow economically with such complacent views on corruption, insisting that leaders need to fight the vice and do it the right way. He also said for long churches have made strides without money from corrupt leaders.
‘SANITIZED MONEY’
“It is like having a son who is unemployed and one day he comes home with a new TV and there have been cases of mugging in the area. Do not tell me you won’t question where he got the money from?” Dr Mutua posed.
The debate on church donations was kicked off by ODM leader Raila Odinga who hit out at corrupt leaders for turning churches into avenues of laundering money obtained illegally from public coffers.
Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka is also on record for cautioning clerics against accepting money suspected to be proceeds of corruption, saying that some politicians could be using the church to ‘sanitise’ the money they could have stolen from the public coffers.
Meanwhile, Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit has maintained that the church should “learn to worship God with its resources, quietly” stating that the Anglican Church will also rethink the matter of letting politicians hold fundraisers in sanctuaries.
A directive by the Catholic Church also discouraged priests from allowing politicians to do politicking during services as has been a tradition.