For some months, cases of self-proclaimed pastors who take advantage of women have been on the rise.
Such cases have now left many Kenyans not only avoiding churches but also start questioning some preachers.
The recent case is that of Meru pastor Daniel Mururu in Nchiru in Tigania West.
It is alleged that Mururu had been ordering women and girls to strip naked, shaving their pubic hair.
At the same time, witnesses claim that he was sucking their breasts and having sex with some of them inside the church.
Twenty-three witnesses, including a 17-year-old secondary school student, have recorded statements with the police who are now investigating his activities.
There are also claims the preacher and elders were coercing the faithful into engaging in indecent acts, threatening them with calamities such as sickness and barrenness if they refuse.
When the local community got wind of the alleged happenings at the church, they raided and razed it down.
They narrated how residents were inducted into the church and the manner of worship, including shaving women’s pubic hair and putting it in a ‘special’ bag.
The new members were also instructed to surrender their livestock and money.
The shocking confessions from the victims come months after another Bishop, Danson Gichuhi, popularly known as Bishop Johana was recorded fondling a woman in a makeshift tent he called a church.
In the footage that elicited heated online debate with calls that he be arrested and charged, the ‘Bishop’ defended himself saying “that is my specialty and approved by God through my anointment”.
The woman who was being “redeemed” from demons defended the preacher saying she willfully sought the service.
Some church associations in an Interview with a Weekly Newspaper have weighed in on the rising cases of fake preachers who use God’s name to lure desperate women promising heaven but their mission is to bed them.
Hudson Ndeda, the chairperson of Church and Clergy Association of Kenya, argues that some pastors are doing such things due to integrity issues.
To tame such preachers, he said, the best way is for the victims to come out and take legal action.
“Those women have husbands and they should take legal action against such a person. That is an individual who has gone overboard,” Ndeda said, adding that these challenges may vary from gender to gender.
“Maybe men are also going through their own challenges which may not be the same as women’s. So I wouldn’t say that the women are the weaker link,” Ndeda noted.
Evangelical Alliance of Kenya Secretary General Nelson Makanda observed that some cases where women are lured to church by fake preachers for sex could be mutual since both parties are adults.
He explains it also has to do with the matter of character and that the culprits need to practice what they preach pointing out that some of them are struggling in different ways.
“They need to be supported either through mentoring before they get into that space. And some of them are masquerading. They are not pastors.”
He says women easily fall for such cons because they believe preachers are in a place of authority.
“You find people who are vulnerable. Either their relationships are not working, they have both physical, emotional, financial needs, and you look like you (preacher) are a caring person,” he explained.
Many times, the bishop said, people who face challenges seek help in church believing to meet caring people only to end up taking advantage of their vulnerable situations.
