Faithful Move In Support Of Their Embattled Archbishop.
The faithful in Maragwa Diocese of AIPCA disowned a splinter
group led by the ousted national chairman Paul Watoro Gichu that has filed a
court case in an attempt to oust Mr. Kabuthu saying that the archbishop was in
office legally as per the constitution of the AIPCA Church.
“On behalf of the 52 churches in this diocese, we stand here
to categorically declare that we are fully behind our archbishop Amos Mathenge
Kabuthu and we are thanking the courts for removing the suspension that had
barred our leader from conducting the affairs of the church,” said Cyrus Ruru
Waweru, the executive Secretary Maragwa Diocese.
Over 500 faithful congregated at the AIPCA Gakarara Church
in full support of their Archbishop Mr. Kabuthu and dismissing the architects of
the planned ouster who were using the courts to divide and disfranchise the
church.
Waweru alleged that the breakaway group had gone to the
court without the blessings and support of the entire AIPCA church faithful
across the country. On behalf of the over 20,000 faithful of the Diocese of
Maragwa and the over 20 dioceses all over the country, Mr. Waweru castigated
this act and threatened to curse anyone going against the wishes of the church
for their own individual interests.
“We curse whoever goes against our leader because he was installed
constitutionally and we love him because he leads us in the right way.”
He clarified that the wrangles dated back to three years ago,
emanating from Gichu who he said was using the courts to frustrate the
leadership of Kabuthu. He termed the court cases malicious and the intended excommunication
of their leader illegal since the archbishop could only be replaced the according
to the AIPCA Constitution.
Standing before hundreds of supportive congregants,
embattled Archbishop Kabuthu vowed to ‘vigorously’ defend his position and the
constitution of the church.
During the church service, he compared his tribulations with
those of Abraham and Job who were faced with so many challenges so that God
could be glorified. He assured the congregation that this was soon going to
pass and normalcy would then prevail.
Kabuthu was very brief in his response to the wrangles
siting the case that was still before the court. However, he was very
categorical that he was the man in charge and those going against him were
doing so without the blessings of the AIPCA faithful.
“I don’t want to talk much about this issue because I don’t
want to be declared to have been in contempt of the court proceedings but one
thing is clear, I was installed in Kasarani as the AIPCA archbishop in the full
glare of the whole world, even in front of the president (Uhuru) and former
president Mwai Kibaki. In a big house like ours, you can never miss one or two ‘bad
apples’. This man is doing a lot of disservice to our church because he has
come to bring disunity within our faithful,” said Kabuthu.
He added that the church was behind him and at no time will
the faithful allow this splinter group to wreck the church.
AIPCA has been for the last three years been embroiled in
wrangles and court cases since the ouster of Gichu. The two (Kibuthu and Gichu)
have been squabbling since 2013 in an ugly power struggle that at times turned
nasty. The misunderstandings
led to the formation of splinter group under Gichu.
The Gichu group has been questioning Kabuthu’s suitability
to lead the church and at one time alleging that Kibuthu did not have the
requisite academic papers to qualify for the leadership of the church. One has
to be a holder of a degree in theology from a recognised university to qualify
for the post.
Various efforts to unite the warring factions have been fruitless
whilst violence erupting in certain scenarios. President Uhuru Kenyatta once personally
tried to broker peace in the church after a meeting he called between the
warring factions ended without concrete resolutions.
Bishop Samuel Ngacha Njiriri, who now heads Stewards Revival
Pentecostal Church, had also previously volunteered to mediate between the two
leaders but his efforts too ran to naught. He claimed that by rebelling against William
Alexander, the Greek Orthodox archbishop who ordained AIPCA’s first three
bishops, AIPCA consigned itself to forever be embroidered in leadership
wrangles that have followed every head of the church.
Alexander was mistreated in Kihumbu-ini in Murang’a County where
had been invited to ordain AIPCA’s pioneer bishops.
“All AIPCA leaders live under the culture of fear. They
think everyone is after the other and start fights where there should be none,”
said Njiriri.
He claimed that the infighting is in line with its church’s
mission, which was basically to fight the colonial government through
supporting such practices as polygamy and female circumcision. Njiriri also
claimed that AIPCA also faces problems in balancing between its African
nationalism roots and modern Christianity as well as lack of elaborate
structures and liturgy and its own theological college to groom priests.
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