The churches central to his election in 2022 are now his fiercest critics.
William Ruto, who became Kenya’s president two years ago riding on the crest of the Christian vote, has been visibly shaken to find that over the last few months church leaders of all creeds are losing faith in him - seeing him less as a saviour and more as the greedy biblical tax collector.
Afterwards, he credited God for his electoral success, and continued this practice of criss-crossing the country to attend a different church each Sunday. When momentous anti-tax protests erupted in June, the young people who led them, popularly referred to as Gen Zs, also called out churches for being too close to politicians and allowing them to preach from their pulpits.
"Basically, it seems that truth does not exist, and if it does, it is only what the government says," the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops said, also hitting out at corruption, greed and over-taxation that was stifling the economy. - with the Archbishop of Nairobi citing "ethical concerns and the need to safeguard the Church from being used for political purposes".
It has also been angered by the chaotic transition to a new social health insurance scheme, with the government owing millions of dollars to faith-based hospitals. "Under President William Ruto, things got even worse because important elements of the church were seemingly co-opted into the feeding trough," veteran journalist and columnist Macharia Gaitho wrote in Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper this week, suggesting "churches were bribed into silence".
"In the circumstances, we should not simply fold our hands and pray for miracles," Ole Sapit said, adding that the Catholic bishops reflected the feelings of many Kenyans.
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