Kenya’s church donations and colonialism

In Kenya, Christianity is the dominating religion comprising approximately 85% of the population. Christianity first arrived in Kenya through the coastal regions in the 19th century, bringing Western education, ideology, and missionary control over society, reinforced by British colonialism.

Missionaries exerted immense control over education, healthcare, and power dynamics, thus embedding the religion deeply into the foundational structure of Kenya. Ethnic groups had been targeted so communities would exert efforts into converting people into members; the education from missionaries became an avenue for elitism and for churches to gain political visibility, influence and legitimacy. The church and religion as a whole are not just spiritual centers, community hubs, or places of socialisation and human connection. They can also be wielded as tools for manipulation, where church leaders exert significant influence over their congregations' economic, political, and voting decisions. Today, Kenyan politicians, including President William Ruto, who recently donated 20 million Shillings (about R3 million), are employing tactics reminiscent of colonial-era strategies used to influence and control citizens.

There is a long standing tradition with Kenyan politicians using congregations to reach the masses via large donations and fundraising drives. However, these actions are not out of generosity, rather they are prioritising their personal positions and agendas onto citizens seeking to gain public support, favour and most critically, votes without adequately addressing the needs of the masses. Is it that congregants believe that the value of donations is relative to the attention that officials will give to the regions; as in would the communities gain greater access to services, employment or education simply due to religious affiliations? The public is concerned that donations to churches are used for money laundering and corruption, with critics calling it ‘stolen tax money’. This is due to the fact that while these donations address immediate needs within churches and communities, they offer temporary solutions and fail to address the underlying structural and governance issues. The phenomenon of temporary gratification is prevalent throughout the African continent and the broader Global South, characterised by the widespread approval and celebration of foreign loans. This reaction often occurs without adequate consideration of the potential harmful economic consequences that such loans may exert upon domestic fiscal structures or crippling foreign debt repayments schemes. 

One could argue that the entanglement between Kenyan officials and religious institutions’ congregations has resulted in citizens becoming pawns from the weaponisation of peoples’ faith and poverty for political advancement. There is a strong link between the financial contributions complacency and religion, the skewed dynamic is reflected in how international organisations tend to preach development in the global South, while perpetuating Western hegemonic dependency with institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the United Nations (UN).

There are a significant number of countries across Africa and the global South which have struggled substantially to repay IMF and World Bank loans; nations are either in arrears, recurring need for financial debt restructuring or are in severe economic crises. Some notable countries include Argentina, Pakistan, Malawi, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Zambia to mention a few. Western financial institutions are often criticised for their debt restructuring plans and minimal interest rate adjustments for emerging nations. While these measures are framed to improve infrastructure and development, they fail to address the fundamental needs and policies of African economies. African countries are also responsible for the poor returns and control that global institutions have over them. This is because these countries are complacent, even though they are aware that development financiers benefit considerably from the extractive nature of African resources, have poor transparency of operations, and lack equity in the governing of these international bodies.

It is widely acknowledged that the UN frequently formulates frameworks and regulations pertaining to social development, educational policies, climate change mitigation, public health initiatives, and even state governance. And non-compliance by developing nations with these mandates often results in their characterisation as noncooperative actors within the international community and ‘against’ global improvement. There is belief that such perceptions disproportionately burden developing nations resulting in little tangible benefits for their citizens. The process of Western centric norms being imposed on the developing world, highlights the historical instances and similarities of colonial missionaries utilising the prospect of ‘civilisation’ and ‘salvation’ to control African societies. This is further exemplified by the Kenyan President’s substantial donations to the church with ‘stolen tax money’ to manipulate faith, finance, and governance to maintain influence—at the cost of real development.

Banthati Sekwala

Associate at BRICS+ Consulting Group

Egyptian and South African Specialist