Kangema MP, Muturi Kigano, who won his Parliamentary Seat after 43 years of trying, strongly believes that it is about time for Kenya to establish stringent laws against the trend of fake churches. He informed Citizens of a plan to table a bill of stringent measures for registering a church in the country that will keep fake men of God at bay.
The MP has come up with the idea of amending the law after observing that most of the churches in the country were operated in ways similar to those of conventional businesses.
The legislator claims some of the mega-churches in the country are nothing but dens of corruption that have no agenda of serving the true God their followers intend to worship.
Such developments, according to the MP, are outcomes of having insufficient and unstable laws governing processes of registering churches in the country; elements that his proposed changes will address.
Kigano also noted that the undesired registration practices are seriously abused by unscrupulous persons who call themselves "men of God" in the name of benefiting themselves.
He asserted, “We even have churches that are made up of three members with a husband being the bishop, wife acting as the pastor or archdeacon and their daughter as the treasurer. This cannot be allowed to go on.”
The false preachers, according to the MP, do not focus their messages on the conventional Christian values and virtues in accordance with doctrines.
“They no longer preach salvation and ways of God but are now preoccupied with what is called prosperity gospel that urges their followers to get rich from the grinding poverty they are in. Members of the flock are told the way out is to tithe generously and plant the seed.
"The resultant effect is that many poor Kenyans become poorer even as the huge entities continue to thrive on the platform of tax evasion," he informed.
Kigano added, “Many of the magnificent churches you see are built through evasion of tax that amounts to corruption. Construction materials are bought without the issuance of Electronic Tax Register receipts (ETR) by the clergymen or through their directive that denies the government the much revenue."
The MP was, however, keen to note that some in the society were more affected than others.
“Most of those affected are women, especially the young ladies and single mothers who get hypnotized and who are always in church. You will find them in the church early in the morning for morning devotion. They also attend lunch hour and evening prayers where they have to part with offerings during these sessions," he stated.
