Church leaders in the Coast Region want government to thoroughly investigate the activities of controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie and preachers of a similar kind and take appropriate action against them as individuals.
The clerics, who belong to the umbrella National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), said they were perturbed that the State was pointing accusing fingers at the entire church, while government agencies that had been aware of Mr. Mackenzie’s activities did not stop him.
They were addressing journalists at the Malindi Friends Church after a consultative meeting following the controversies surrounding Mr. Mackenzie and the imminent control of religious activities by the government as a result of the Shakahola massacre.
The clerics expressed their displeasure with the way government agencies had handled the embattled preacher, noting that the State had been aware of the doomsday preacher’s activities for more than 20 years without taking stern action against him.
They said it should be made mandatory for any registered church organization to belong to a Christian umbrella body such as the NCCK and the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK), which, they said had elaborate organizational structures and could easily discipline errant member churches and clergy.
Led by Bishop Peter Mwero, the NCCK Coast Regional Chairman, the clergymen also called on the Registrar of Societies to thoroughly interrogate the statements of faith of emerging church organizations before registering them.
Mwero, who is the Bishop of PEFA churches in Kwale, said there was need for the government to use its machinery to identify characters like Mackenzie and deal with them as individuals without resorting to arbitrary control of religion in the country.
“The church and other people reported Mackenzie’s activities and teachings to the relevant authorities early enough for investigation,” he said but noted that church leaders had a responsibility to teach their members sound doctrine to protect them from predatory preachers.
Regional Vice Chairman Reuben Katite, said Mackenzie could not be controlled because his church did not belong to any umbrella body and stressed the need for all churches to belong to a recognized umbrella organization.
Similar sentiments were made by the chairman of NCCK, Kilifi County, Bishop Alfred Magambo, who also urged pastors to join pastors’ fellowships in their respective areas where it will be easy to correct one another.
By Emmanuel Masha
