The Elephant

07/09/2026

William Ruto did not introduce Christianity into Kenya’s political life. Nor did he invent the longstanding practice of politicians cultivating religious constituencies. What is distinctive about his presidency is the prominence of his own born-again identity within the exercise and symbolism of political office. His political biography is repeatedly narrated through faith, providence and renewal; his presidency has cultivated visible relationships with Christian leaders and institutions, particularly within evangelical and Pentecostal circles; and religious symbolism has increasingly accompanied the performance of presidential authority.

Analysis: https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2026/09/01/faith-and-fury-how-moral-populism-became-kenyas-political-currency/

07/09/2026

OYUGI ABEDNEGO OCHILLO - Whose Kingdom Is It? Religion and Power in Kenya
https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2026/09/07/whose-kingdom-is-it-religion-and-power-in-kenya

Kenya's churches have built a financial and political relationship with the state that Gen Z is now the first generation to seriously question from inside the pews rather than from outside them.

05/09/2026

NELLY MADEGWA - Faith, Power, and Paradox in Kenya’s Church

If the Church is a conscience, a watchman, a voice for justice, what is the point of believing in a heaven of justice while accepting an earthly life defined by its absence?

05/09/2026

AKAL MOHAN - Confessions of A Non-Practising Christian

The Church has abdicated its role of defending human dignity and standing with the poor, politicians having taken over the pulpit and, disillusioned, my generation is abandoning religion.

04/09/2026

The financial imperatives of extractive religious institutions create a structural convergence with the political class. Political figures have routinely leveraged the pulpit to secure political legitimacy, purchase moral sanitization, and gain access to voting blocs. In exchange for substantial cash donations to church building funds and public fundraisers, politicians are granted access to church platforms during weekend services. From these sacred altars, political elites advance electoral agendas, defend unpopular policies, and evade accountability for corruption and governance failures.

Read: https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2026/09/02/kenyas-kairos-after-the-occupy-churches-protests/

04/09/2026

In Kenya, the question of religious authority and political participation has acquired concrete form. Prayer has become part of the symbolism surrounding the presidency. Religious leaders have maintained close access to political power. Financial relationships between politicians and churches have raised questions about influence and patronage. And proposals to establish religious institutions within state spaces have raised a more fundamental question about the boundary between the faith of an officeholder and the institutional character of the state.

Analysis: https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2026/09/01/faith-and-fury-how-moral-populism-became-kenyas-political-currency/

02/09/2026

Mitchelle Oyuga – The Universe of SRHR: Your Body’s Bill of Rights

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) encompasses human rights relating to sexuality, reproductive health, and bodily autonomy. In this episode, our guest outlines the core components of SRHR span universal health coverage, personal freedoms, and global development frameworks. Michelle Oy...

02/09/2026

IVAN MAYABI - Kenya’s Kairos After the Churches Protests

Faith communities can escape the dual pitfalls of State Theology and Church Theology by reclaiming the analytical rigour of the Kairos Document and converting political theology into tangible operational action.

02/09/2026

Every year, many of the young people leave school and enter the labour market. The formal economy, across all sectors, produces about 50,000 to 80,000 jobs in that same period. That range is itself an admission of how little anyone knows about where Kenyan youth will end up. More than 75 per cent of the population is under 35. This dismal state of the country has persisted since the 1980s and ’90s, when structural adjustment hollowed out the public sector and the state formally exempted the earliest matatus from licensing rules rather than build the transit system it could no longer afford. Thirty-five years on, that small bureaucratic shrug has become an entire informal industry absorbing the youth that the formal economy cannot.

Analysis: https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2026/08/12/notes-on-the-nairobian-hustle-in-the-age-of-the-bottom-up-economy/

01/09/2026

NYAMBURA MUNDIA - Faith and Fury: How Moral Populism Became Kenya’s Political Currency

The relationship between religious authority and political power in Kenya is neither new nor straightforward. But under President William Ruto, the language of faith, providence and moral renewal has become unusually visible within the exercise of political power.