The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has urged President William Ruto to provide evidence backing his recent claims that Members of Parliament are involved in corruption, warning that the fight against graft cannot be won through rhetoric alone.
Speaking during a Sunday service at the Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa (PEFA) Church in Roysambu, Nairobi County, NCCK Vice Chairman Bishop John Okinda challenged the Head of State to act decisively.
“The ongoing debate is good. We need to tackle corruption as a nation. But we want to see the end result. We need to jail the corrupt,” Bishop Okinda said.
His sentiments were echoed by Bishop Samuel Njiriri of Stewards Revival Ministry and Apostle Peter Manyuru of Jesus Teaching Ministry, who both stressed that President Ruto should use the intelligence reports at his disposal to prosecute corrupt leaders.
“This is the right time for the President to take action. He has a lot of intelligence; let him use it to prosecute the corrupt,” said Bishop Njiriri.
“We want to see action taken against corrupt leaders, not just talk,” added Apostle Manyuru.
The NCCK also dismissed proposals to create a multi-agency team to spearhead the anti-graft war, insisting that the Constitution clearly mandates the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to lead such efforts.
“EACC, under Bishop Oginde, should take full mandate. Don’t bring many people, there will be confusion,” Bishop Okinda warned.
President Ruto returned to the country this weekend from Japan, where he attended the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9). He is yet to respond to calls from Parliament and the clergy to make public the evidence he claims to have received from intelligence agencies implicating MPs in bribery.
The remarks by church leaders add to mounting pressure on the President to demonstrate political will in fighting graft. With corruption consistently ranked as one of the country’s biggest challenges, the clergy insisted that meaningful progress will only be achieved if suspects are prosecuted and convicted.
The ball, they said, is now firmly in the President’s court.
