Monday, May 1, 2023 –Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga has accused President William Ruto of masterminding cult culture in the country.
Odinga, in his Monday May 1address in Nairobi, said Ruto’s administration had converted the Statehouse into a ‘Shakahola Annex’.
In a long statement on May 1, 2023, the Azimio leader Mr. Odinga accused Ruto of associating with controversial preachers who exhibited signs of running cult movements to the extent of conning Kenyans.
“Mr Ruto is as much a suspect as is all the cult pastors from Shakahola and beyond. He owes the people of Kenya an explanation before he purports to be trying to solve the problem. The so-called pastors are the people who set up the so-called sanctuary at Ruto’s former official residence in Karen as the deputy president.
“They did not stop there. These so-called pastors proceeded to deliver prophesies and promise miracles about how Ruto would perform as president. These cultic pastors were among the people who supposedly sanctified Statehouse when Ruto arrived there, pretending to be holier than every other Kenyan,” Odinga said.
He blamed the head of State of being friendly to anybody who carried the Bible even before carrying out due diligence.
According to Raila, the pastors would then promise that Ruto will be a great president for the people of Kenya what has turned out to be something else.
“They proceeded to prophesy how great his regime would be. These so-called pastors have organized mega prayer rallies, attended by so-called prayer warriors that include Mr Ruto, Mr Rigathi Gachagua and their spouses, supposedly to sanctify the land. They ended up defiling the land.
“These so-called pastors aided the introduction of mandatory fasting that started in 2015 at the DP’s residence in Karen and which have been carried over to Statehouse where everyone is compelled to fast every Wednesday regardless of their faith, effectively making Statehouse essentially a Shakahola annex,” Raila went on.
According to the opposition leader, the cult leaders are behind the decision by Ruto to establish a Faith Diplomacy office which allegedly hired 100 members to be recruited into Public Service Commission PSC as intercessors supposedly to pray for counties and the government.
“Nobody knows the identity, the qualifications of the so-called intercessors, how they were identified and where they fit in a government where religion and state are separate entities,” Raila added.
Raila further faulted the President for planning to set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to probe the Shakahola cult deaths, terming it as unconstitutional. Raila said that only the Judiciary and the Parliament can form commissions of inquiry according to the current law.
The opposition ended up asking his supporters to show up in large numbers so that to continue with protests against the State.
