President William Ruto heaped praises on former President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday, for his efforts towards uniting the leaders of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) involved in leadership wrangles.
Speaking at the Centenary Celebrations of the Church on Sunday, in Kasarani, the president noted that Uhuru was able to unite the leaders, a mission which he was personally not capable of handling.
“We are here to celebrate the unity of the AIPCA Church, you all understand and we all know that in the past we had wrangles but through God’s grace today we stand here as a united Church”, explained the president.
The president elaborated that during his tenure as the Deputy President he sought Uhuru’s help after the church delegation approached him, to help them resolve a dispute.
“When they approached me, I told them that uniting this church was above my capability and I leaned to Uhuru Kenyatta for help. I want to thank former President Uhuru because he played a huge role in getting us here,” stated the President.
Ruto noted that he was acquaintances with each faction of the warring church leaders and admitted to partly fueling the wrangles within the church.
“Samson Muthuri was our friend, Julius Njoroge and Frederick Wang’ombe were also our friends leading to us possibly fueling the conflict. When any of them invited us, we honoured their invites,” stated the President.
According to the President, these friendships led to a dilemma in the solution of the conflict, forcing him to turn to the former Head of State who successfully mediated and united the church.
The church which broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, a hundred years ago mainly comprised of former Maumau fighters and Africans who found the Catholic Church to be colonial
Further the leadership wrangles, escalated in 2017 when the outgoing Bishop Amos Kabuthu, installed Archbishop Fredrick Wang’ombe as leader of the church despite the election of Archbishop Julius Njoroge Gitau.
Consequently, Julius Njoroge Gitau left the church to form his own faction AIPCK which had over 200 churches under its leadership.
However, the church leadership resolved to hold an election after seventeen years of the wrangles where each leader was expected to accept the outcome, ending the dispute.
