ACK Church Bans Church Harambees In Bid To ‘Curb Corruption’

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) has banned fund drives popularly knows as harambees inside its sanctuaries across the country.

This comes in the wake of churches facing backlash for entertaining politics during services and receiving alleged proceeds from corruption during fundraisers.

Announcing the move on Tuesday, Archbishop Jackson ole Sapit said some politicians were misusing the church platform.

He stated that politicians were using church donations to sanitize their ill gotten money.

He affirmed that going forward the ACK church will not hold fund drives.

However, Sapit said any church member wishing to hold such gatherings can hold them elsewhere.

“My unequivocal commitment today is to mobilize all our congregation to join the war against corruption.

I urge all our bishops to shun partisan politics from the pulpit. Let us not allow Harambee money to be the a subtle way of sanitizing the corrupt leaders and become the way to open the pulpit to those who are not worship leaders,” he said.

He called for the prosecution of corrupt leaders and their proceeds of graft be recovered and handed back to the public.

His comments come two days after Bishop Timothy Gichere of the ACK Mt Kenya Central diocese criticized leaders behind recent attacks on the clergy over church donations.

Read: ACK Bishop Slams Leaders Opposed To Church Donations By Politicians, Says Funds Welcomed

Bishop Githere said the church will continue receiving the funds labeled proceeds of corruption until the courts declare such leaders corrupt.

He argued that there is no clear mechanism to distinguish “clean” money and money gotten from corruption scandals.

The bishop said no one should label or condemn others as corrupt as one is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Last week, the Catholic Church also resolved to block politicians from its pulpit.

“We met recently as Catholic Bishops and passed a resolution that we should not allow politicians to interfere with our congregations or to bring politics in our churches. We would like our politicians to understand that we don’t want to mix issues. Let us leave politics where it belongs and the church where it belongs,” Bishop Kamau said.

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