Following the news of the Shakahola cult massacre, which left at least 90 people dead, Nyeri Catholic Archbishop Anthony Muheria wants all religious leaders to declare their financial status openly.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Archbishop Muheria expressed worry about the appearance of many spiritual leaders claiming to be religious teachers when their true goal is to deceive naive and vulnerable people.
As a result, Muheria believes that the government should step in and audit the income of spiritual leaders to increase accountability and avoid similar situations.
He stated that It is important that they audit the wealth of all religious leaders, adding that he should be able to declare what he has in his account and that it should be open to all Christians who attend his church. They should be aware of how much money he has and how much he possesses. That is the only way to protect the congregation from the greed of rogue religious leaders.
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The Archbishop spoke on the Shakahola episode, denying the term 'brainwashing' that has become synonymous with it, instead referring to the current events as an act of deception and manipulation of vulnerable people in society by church officials.
According to Muheria, the government should enact legislation to control pseudo-religions to flush out bogus leaders who only try to mislead their followers.
He said there must be laws to tame pseudo-religions, denominations, and gatherings and that they're just human creations by individuals who want to deceive.
Muheria says that he doesn't think it's called brainwashing; it's a high-level deception in which we can cheat and enslave straightforward, gullible people because they're poor and miserable that they give all their goods for the good of the religious leader.
Adding that, We must be bold; this is not a simple sanitization," he continued. We've seen that this is profound, wicked, and should never be repeated.
