Nairobi — The Government will review the policies surrounding the operations of religious institutions in a bid to shield Kenyans from falling prey to exploitative religious leaders.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki made the statement on Tuesday when he visited Kilifi’s Shakahola forest, the operating base of controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie.
Kindiki stated that the move is a proactive measure aimed at preventing any potential exploitation and abuse of vulnerable individuals who may be susceptible to manipulation by unscrupulous religious leaders.
The announcement came as homicide detectives unearthed another 17 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation, bringing the number of victims so far to 90 including children.
Kindiki said that to avoid a repeat of search tragedy in the country and to safeguard the freedom of worship, there was need to tighten the regulations to seal the existing gaps that have been exploited by some religious leaders such as Pastor Mackenzie.
“It is inevitable that we are going to tighten the regulations and the laws of our country carefully following the bill of rights, the guaranteed freedom of worship and religion but balancing those rights with the sacred duty of the government and the laws of our country to ensure every member of the public in Kenya is safe, “Kindiki said.
He however explained that the move is not in any way meant to infringe on Article 32 of the constitution which provides that “Every person has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion.”
But rather meant to ensure the laws around the freedom of worship is adhered to.
“We must respond to the question whether anybody, anywhere, anyhow can preach anything.”
The Interior CS stated that any religious leader of any faith who misleads their followers in the name of religion deserves to be dealt with harshly.
He appealed to religious institutions to collaborate with the government even as it comes up with better measures to tackle the vice.
“We ask religious organisations to help us on the ways to regulate themselves. We expect self-regulation proposals from faith organizations but also the government of Kenya will come up with other regulations just to oversee and ensure that there is no excuse of people using religion to commit crime,” he added.
CS Kindiki vowed to ensure all those responsible for the “Shakahola Forest Massacre” are held accountable for their actions and “punished severely.”