'You are dividing the country,' All Saints Cathedral provost tells President Ruto on Nyayo Stadium prayers

All Saints Cathedral provost Sammy Wainaina has criticised President William Ruto's decision to hold a National Prayer Day event at the Nyayo stadium on Tuesday.

Speaking on Citizen TV's JKLive show, Wainaina faulted Ruto for asserting, during the event, that the church has finally rediscovered its place in the country's political scene after a long time.

According to Wainaina, while churches can provide a place of dialogue for political leaders, they should not become overly active in the country's political process

"In my understanding, he (Ruto) says there is no separation between the church and state and that is where I differ with the president. There is a demarcation; there is a relationship but there is also a separation," he told show host Jeff Koinange.

Wainaina went ahead to call attention to the fact that during the five-hour-long Tuesday event, only two hours were specifically designated for prayers while the remaining were used by Kenya Kwanza's top brass to throw jabs at their political rivals.

"If it's a church service please attend the service and once it's over go to the nearest stadium and do your politics. When it comes to prayers and thanksgiving, those are sacred and they can only be conducted by the clergy and am on record saying when it comes to pulpits let them be left to the clergy because the congregations that we serve are not in support of one political party," he said.

"When a president invites people to Nyayo stadium, many of his supporters will show up but what you are doing is not unifying the country in the name of prayer you are actually dividing the country. When a section of the church goes to such prayer meetings again you are dividing the very church."

Wainaina added that if President Ruto really wanted to hold a strict national prayer event he should have invited religious leaders from other faith to the event as well.

 "If the president wanted a day of prayer there are organisations that he could have called such as the inter-religious council because we need to be as inclusive as possible," he said.

"In future, if we get a Muslim president and he does what Ruto is doing in public, how will the Christians feel?" posed Wainaina.