Kabando Wa Kabando blasts AIPCA bishop Karatu over ‘partisan pulpit politics’
By Joel Masibo, December 15, 2025Former Mukurweini MP Kabando Wa Kabando has launched a critique of Gatundu North African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) Reverend Bishop Simon Karatu, following remarks that appeared to endorse President William Ruto’s 2027 re-election bid.
Taking to X on Monday, December 15, 2025, the MP accused the cleric of abusing the pulpit for partisan politics and betraying the church’s historic legacy. Karatu was speaking during a church service on Sunday, December 14, 2025, where the Head of State was in attendance.
Backing Ruto’s re-election bid
”People are saying President Ruto has no votes in the Mount Kenya region ahead of 2027. I want to tell them that it is we who have the votes and we have decided we will vote for Ruto,” Karatu said amid cheers.
Speaking on the same, Kabando situates his criticism within the rich and radical history of AIPCA, reminding Kenyans that the church was founded in the 1920s as an African-led religious movement that fused Christianity with African culture at a time when colonial missions marginalised indigenous expression.
According to the former MP, AIPCA was not merely a spiritual institution but a key player in Kenya’s liberation struggle, with deep links to the Mau Mau (Land and Freedom Army) and institutions such as Githunguri Teachers College, which educated freedom fighters rejected by colonial systems.
It is against this background, Kabando argues, that the bishop’s political pronouncements become inappropriate and historically offensive. By publicly assuring President Ruto of Mount Kenya’s political support in 2027, the cleric, Kabando, says, neither spoke for AIPCA’s theological doctrine nor for the people of the region.
Kabando’s rebuke
”AIPCA had connections with Mau Mau (Land & Freedom Army) and even Gìthùngùri Teachers College, which helped train scions of Mau Mau who were rejected by other colonial institutions. In assuring Ruto of Mt.Kenya support in 2027, the Bishop spoke neither for the AIPCA theological doctrine we know of nor for the gallant people of Mt.Kenya,” Wa Kabando said.
”That was not a church service but a chaotic Sunday political rally in church designed to revive 2022 religious hypotony to mesmerise masses into another Rutoist deceit,” he added.
Kabando’s rebuke is reserved for what he describes as a growing class of “Mpesa pastors” clergy he accuses of masking personal greed and political opportunism behind religious authority. He warns that such behaviour desecrates the church, erodes its moral standing, and reduces faith to a transactional tool for political elites.
While directing blame at the clergy, Kabando also challenges congregants to take responsibility. He urges worshippers to resist cheering partisan declarations from the pulpit, arguing that silence or applause in the face of what he calls “blasphemy” only entrenches the problem. In a pointed appeal, he calls on church members to reclaim the sanctity of worship spaces and reject political propaganda disguised as prophecy.
”We must boldly tell off ‘mpesa-pastors’ camouflaging ravaging appetites on the pulpit. Yet, in the end, church congregations should refuse to cheer blasphemy. Aca, mùtikahenio rìngì! Lest We Forget.” Wa Kabando asserted.
Invoking memory and history, Kabando closes with a stark reminder that the church once stood with the oppressed against state power, not alongside it.