Worthy Christian News > World News > Kenya’s Christian President Pressured To Resign As Dozen Die In Clashes (Worthy News In-Depth)

Kenya’s Christian President Pressured To Resign As Dozen Die In Clashes (Worthy News In-Depth)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

NAIROBI (Worthy News) – Kenya’s self-declared Christian president faces pressure to resign after nationwide anti-government protests allegedly killed as many as 16 people.

Most of them were killed by police, said the head of the Kenyan branch of the advocacy group Amnesty International.

Irungu Houghton added that the figures were verified by the global rights watchdog and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). “Most were killed by police,” Houghton said, adding that at least five of the victims had been shot dead.

The government-funded KNCHR earlier said eight deaths had been reported across the country, all “allegedly from gunshot wounds.”

“Over 400 casualties have been reported, including demonstrators, police officers, and journalists,” KNCHR said in a statement shared on the social media platform X.

The watchdog noted heavy police deployment and “allegations of excessive use of force, including rubber bullets, live ammunition and water cannons, resulting in numerous injuries.”

Kenyan police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga declined to comment on the statements by Amnesty Kenya or KNCHR.

SCORES ARRESTED

State-funded body, Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) announced that 61 people were arrested during the protests.

The clashes happened while thousands of Kenyans took to the streets on Wednesday to commemorate last year’s protests, in which more than 60 people died, with police firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse them in the capital, Nairobi, according to local media and witnesses.

The protests against President William Ruto’s government, who openly expresses the Christian faith, came while it attempted to ban live television and radio coverage of the protests.

“Rogue Regime” – declared the headline of Kenya’s respected Standard newspaper, which noted that young people had flooded the streets in defiant remembrance of those gunned down a year ago in mass anti-tax demonstrations. However, “Instead of a listening ear, they were met with razor wire, armoured trucks and the cold grip of repression”.

But Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said police showed “remarkable restraint” as they foiled an “attempted coup”.

“We condemn the criminal anarchists who, in the name of peaceful demonstrations, unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault, and destruction upon our people,” he said.

In addition to “the 10 deaths,” more than 400 others were injured, including about 300 police officers, he said.

‘CRIMINAL ANARCHISTS’

“We condemn the criminal anarchists who, in the name of peaceful demonstrations, unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault, and destruction upon our people,” he said. Other sources said at least 16 people died, and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) condemned the police for their handling of the protest.

“The unnecessary aggression and brute force that culminated in the senseless loss of life and senseless destruction of property have no place in a free democratic society,” LSK said.

The crackdown came just weeks after a popular 31-year-old online writer and teacher, Albert Ojwang, died in police custody.

He was arrested after being accused of defaming a senior police officer on his blog, and died in detention of assault wounds, an autopsy found.

His death triggered a small protest in the capital, Nairobi, which police clamped down on, and a street vendor, who was caught in the crossfire, was shot at close range, is fighting for his life in the hospital, sources said.

The LSK denounced his shooting as unbefitting of “any sane democracy”.

Critics say Kenya risks losing its status as a democracy in Africa that, elsewhere in the region, “many Tanzanians and Ugandans envied”– and drew inspiration from.

BENNY HINN

However, the bloodshed came more than a year after controversial U.S. preacher Benny Hinn held evangelism meetings in Kenya on February 24-25, which at one point was attended by the president and his wife.

“More than half a million people jammed the 150,000 seats inside Nyayo Stadium” in the capital, Nairobi, “ as well as the overflow area outside the huge facility, extending far into the surrounding areas”, Benny Hinn Ministries added at the time.

“President Ruto and his wife [Rachel Ruto] then broke protocol and came toward Pastor Benny as they knelt down for prayer before him. Pastor knelt with them in highly charged moments of heartfelt connection and anointing,” Benny Hinn Ministries said.

While praying for the president and the First Lady, Hinn said in February 2024 that, “Every decision President William Ruto makes will succeed.” President Ruto, who arrived clad in a white outfit like his wife, received “the blessing” of Hinn and other pastors during the February 2024 gathering.

Ruto, 60, then said Kenyans “believe in God and are unashamed about their faith in the Lord.”

He stressed that in 2006, during the “100th anniversary of the Azusa Revival in the U.S.,” which he attended with his wife, he received “a revelation” that he would be president of Kenya.

Now, as president, he added, he is certain “God would favor Kenya with another revelation and revival that will make the country not only a great nation in Africa but globally.”

Although Kenya faces economic challenges, including massive fiscal deficits, “it will overcome them,” he stressed.

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