The Bishop Gets Burned

In America, highly publicized scandals related to the church often deal with sexual relationships between men of the cloth and young boys. Kenya, with its own very robust Christian ministry, is not without its share of scandals.

Today, Taifa Leo reports that Pastor Gideon Mulwa Mutisya from the Salvation Joy Gospel Centre “tricked” a 14 year old girl into believing that he was sending her somewhere to get a job. Then, after convincing her to stay at his house, he raped her:

“[M]tumishi wa Mungu alimshika kwa nguvu na kumvua nguo zote. Lakini msichana huyo alikataa kufanya naye mapenzi na wakang'anga'ania kwa muda mrefu hadi mshtakiwa alipomshinda nguvu baada ya kuchoka na kumnajisi.”

(The servant of God forcefully grabbed her and took off all her clothes. But the girl refused to have sex with him and they struggled for a long time until she became tired and the accused overpowered her and raped her.)

This, you might think, would be a scandal. Deserving of headlines. It isn't.

No, the bigger, more blockbuster news centers on a Kenyan Bishop (of Jesus is Alive Ministries) named Margaret Wanjiru. A couple weeks ago Wanjiru, who's running for a Parliamentary seat this year, brought her South African fiancé to church.

A couple days later, James Kamangu said he married Wanjiru in 1978 following Kikuyu customary laws. After five years and two children, he said, they separated. Apparently what stirred him out of his silence was Wanjiru's claim that her “boyfriend” was a “drunkard.” He just wanted Wanjiru to clear his name.

Kamangu is clearly a poor man, making ends meet as a cobbler and potter. Wanjiru, on the other hand, is doing very well for herself. Responding to Kamangu's claim that he paid a 3,000/- dowry in 1978, to roars of laughter, she asked her congregation, “Do I look like a 3,000/- woman?”

It's a smart political technique: twisting numbers to create false impressions. Who could believe that this woman, now a very successful and well-to-do woman could have been bought off for a measly 3,000/- ($43)? Even a modest dowry runs 50-100,000/- ($714-$1428).

But a shilling today and a shilling 30 years ago are drastically different things. In 1978, according to my admittedly imperfect calculations, 3,000/- was roughly $1,000. (See the 1978 exchange rate and convert to 2005 dollars.)

She went on to publicly ridicule Kamangu, denying that she ever had a relationship with him. The congregation cheered her on, as she continued: “The man who is making those claims has hands which appear as though they have been eaten by jiggers. He looks miserable. He can go look for a rope and hang himself somewhere. We shall do a funeral.” (emphasis added)

Now that's scandal: a Bishop standing in front of her congregation, publicly telling a man to go and hang himself. If the comment wasn't outrageous enough, the evidence suggests that she's lying. Hospital records and circumstantial evidence suggests that Kamangu really is her ex-husband and the father of at least two of her sons. (Maybe three?)

Wanjiru's wedding to the South African Pastor has now turned into a media circus. Instead of it being the success story of a poor, single mother putting her life together and rising to the top, some Kenyans, with that same robust Christianity, are citing passages in the bible that suggest she cannot remarry until her first husband dies. (The bible doesn't exactly recognize divorce.)

Clearly Wanjiru, who has said that she believes one day God will help her become President of Kenya, has handled this whole thing disastrously. As a bishop and political candidate, she needs to learn how to control her emotions, language, and, above all, her relationship with the truth.

Being a politician doesn't mean being honest about everything--though one wishes that was the requirement for both religious and political leaders--but it does mean knowing how to tip-toe around topics that will damage your reputation.

Wanjiru cannot seem to bring herself to admit that she had a relationship with Kamangu, but she doesn't mind confessing to having been a witch, graduating from black to white to red withcraft. Claiming to have bewitched people doesn't seem to strike her or her supporters as damaging her reputation. (Update: My co-worker suggests that the more dramatic the conversion, the larger the congregation.) As she tells the story, she met a Nigerian Evangelist, gave her life to Jesus and underwent a “total transformation, a Holy Ghost baptism of fire.”

These past few weeks have been Wanjiru's political baptism of fire. Can she recover from it?

Update 2: A link for Wanjiru's Jesus is Alive Ministries. It's worth glancing at if you're vaguely interested in African Christianity. Includes this eye-opening line: "Following a prophecy by a visiting US preacher, Prophetess Brenda Todd, Bishop Wanjiru announced the decision to plunge into the political arena [...]." Here's more about Brenda Todd.