I laud the efforts by the Attorney General to regulate churches in Kenya. No one should worry about this regulation as the AG is well seized of the fact that this regulation is limited in its scope, given the nature of religious expression and constitutional reality that guarantees freedom of belief, association and thought. Such regulation will be limited to aspects of registration, enhancing accountability and compliance and general observance of the law. The regulation cannot reach the tentacles of interpreting repugnancy of their theology, the veracity of their claims, their economic thirst, their polity and overall internal organisation and expression that does not violate the letter and spirit of the constitution. To do this would be to invite significant amount of disdain, intellectual ridicule and religious backlash, which I am sure the AG would not want to be associated with. The greatest challenge however, would be whether registration of religious groups is a pre-requisite to operation, given the guaranteed freedom of thought, belief and association. My only counsel is for the Kenyans not to expect much from regulation framework from a legal front. It has to come from self-regulation front that is equipped with significant goodwill and peer pressure. Being religious society, the things that people do to get what they want are ridiculous. We have seen those seeking elective offices going to great length with witchcraft and all. We have seen those seeking love invoking powers of password and all. Repugnant as these vices may be to our sensibilities, we must stay away from legal actions being coach and umpire.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 04:35:32 +0000
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