Bishop Ong’injo Slams Ruto Repression in Kisumu Sermon

Ong’injo’s slam of Ruto’s repression in the Kisumu sermon has electrified Kenya’s political undercurrents, as Anglican Bishop Charles Ong’injo unleashed a blistering takedown of President William Ruto’s administration during a funeral service in the lakeside city.

At the emotional send-off for Hannington Raburu Juma, a prominent community elder and former councillor, Ong’injo accused the government of rampant repression, blatant ethnic favouritism in key appointments, and inflicting widespread suffering through soaring living costs and shadowy abductions.

Speaking to a packed congregation at St Stephen’s Cathedral, the bishop’s words cut deep, labelling the regime’s actions a “betrayal of the very unity it preaches” and drawing parallels to the dark days of past authoritarian grips.

The sermon, delivered under a canopy of sombre hymns and flickering candles, transformed the mourning rite into a pulpit of protest.

Ong’injo, clad in his white clerical robes, pointed fingers at the cabinet’s lopsided makeup, where the Nyanza region’s mere two slots pale against the six doled out to Mt Kenya heavyweights.

“Inclusion? What a cruel joke,” he thundered, dismissing the appointments of Luo luminaries like Treasury CS John Mbadi and Minority Leader James Opiyo Wandayi as mere window dressing.

“Two tokens for a region that birthed heroes, while the mountain feasts? This is not governance; it’s gerrymandering of power.”

His voice rose with the passion of a prophet, echoing the frustrations of a community still scarred by the 2022 election violence and recent youth abductions that have claimed over a dozen lives in informal settlements.

Ong’injo didn’t spare the economic lash either, weaving tales of families rationing ugali amid 7.2 per cent inflation and fuel prices topping Sh190 per litre.

“You tax the breath from our lungs, then abduct the voices crying out. Where is the mercy in midnight raids and unexplained disappearances?” he lamented.

The bishop’s sharpest barb landed on the state funeral for opposition icon Raila Odinga in October, branding it “a hollow spectacle, a crocodile’s tear shed over the grave of a man you feared alive.”

The crowd, over 2,000 strong, including Luo elders and youth activists, erupted in murmurs of agreement, some wiping tears, others nodding, fists clenched in quiet resolve.

Reactions rippled outward like stones in Lake Victoria. In Kisumu’s teeming markets and matatu depots, the sermon struck a chord.

“The bishop said what we’ve whispered for years,” shared a vendor haggling over tomatoes at Kibuye Market.

“Nyanza bleeds while others banquet. When will the scales tip?” Gen Z voices, fresh from finance bill scars, stitched TikToks of the clip to protest anthems, one viral edit captioning: “Pulpit power and palace promises.”

Ong’injo’s boldness isn’t isolated; the Anglican Church has long been a thorn in autocratic sides, from Moi’s one-party era to Kibaki’s land rows.

As second-term pressures mount on Ruto – with approval ratings at 28 per cent per Infotrak – such sermons could galvanise the opposition’s regrouping under figures like Kalonzo Musyoka.

Church sources hint at a multi-denominational statement brewing, demanding probes into abductions and equitable cabinet reshuffles.

In a nation where faith and fury intertwine, the bishop’s words may just stir the waters enough to drown out the status quo. For Nyanza’s faithful and the federation’s fringes, it’s not just a eulogy – it’s an awakening.