Pastor Victor Kanyari. The man at the centre of a storm.[www.standardmedia.co.ke] At the same time that Kenyans were being treated to one of the most bizarre cases of abuse of position by a Church leader, something more or less the same was happening in Uganda; Uganda’s minister for Ethics and Integrity called for the arrest and isolation of a singer for exposing her nudity. The Daily Monitor reported that the minister for ethics and integrity Rev. Fr. Simon Lokodo asked the police to investigate singer Desire Luzinda over leaked nude pictures on social media. Whereas I do not advocate for having a moral police in the form of a minister for ethics and integrity in Kenya, because I believe that ethics should be left to individuals to practice, I believe that it is time Kenyan church leaders took a drastic measure to help curb the kind of shenanigans that we saw last week on television. For those who might not be familiar with the happenings in Kenya lately, one ‘Prophet’ Victor Kanyari (who also calls himself Dr. yet says he has no known doctorate) was exposed by an investigative piece on KTN television as being a conman, who pries on the fears and desperation of innocent people who go to him seeking for divine intervention in their lives. The con pastor was filmed coaching people who would later go and give false testimonies in his church, just as a way of luring more people into his church, ostensibly because of the miracles he was performing. I believe that any right-thinking member of the Christian faith ought to bow their head in shame because of the way the con pastor has misused the name of God and brought the Christian faith to ridicule. Yet, I trust that there is much that the church can do to bring such incidents to an end, or to a minimum, because, just like in every other profession, the church too has been infiltrated by masqueraders, who need to be checked. Like any other professionals who have bodies to regulate their operations, I am saying the time has now come for the Church in Kenya to seriously consider forming a body that will regulate the registration of churches and other para-church organizations, and the registration of preachers. My argument is based on the fact that legally, there is nothing that the people who were conned by ‘Prophet’ Kanyari can do, because they gave money to him willingly without being coerced. And that is why the man can say without shame that all Churches are guilty, and it is only the name that is different in every church. This is what he told one of the local dailies: “Well, every church is eating it…whether they call it “seed” or “offering”. But the fact of the matter is that, many of the people that he and many other con-preachers steal from are gullible and do not have the ability to differentiate truth from lies as spewed by the fake preachers, who are too smart and too sophisticated for ordinary men and women. That is why such gullible people need protection from men and women who have studied the word of God and who can discern whether a preacher is preaching the truth or not. My suggestion is that even before one is allowed to preach or register an organization that purports to be Christian, they ought to have some minimum qualifications before they can be licensed. Then, they have to work under a licensed preacher for a certain period of time before they can be certified as preaching that which is expected of them. If doctors, engineers, lawyers, and other professionals cannot be allowed to practice independently before working for a number of years under their more experienced masters, why should preachers be given the lee-way to do as they please, when they deal with issues of life and death? If the Church does not take the challenge, I submit that the government would be justified to come in and rescue innocent Kenyans from the hands of con-men and con-women. And this should not be seen as infringing on the rights of people to associate. It should be seen as a genuine action by the state to save the Church from itself.
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