Delegation of religious leaders hosted by Ruto blasted
Former Nairobi Town Clerk and governance expert Philip Kisia has launched a scathing attack on a group of clergymen who recently visited State House, accusing them of lacking both legitimacy and genuine theological training.
Speaking during a podcast aired on Friday evening, July 18, 2025, Kisia did not hold back as he dismissed the clergy who met President William Ruto, claiming that the visit was driven more by self-interest than any commitment to faith or service to the church.
You might also like
According to Kisia, most of those present were not trained ministers and had no formal background in theology as is typically required of ordained religious leaders.
He insisted that titles such as “bishop”, “apostle”, and “reverend” are not honorary badges to be claimed overnight but designations that demand years of study and rigorous spiritual preparation.
He questioned the authenticity of the men present at the State House meeting, suggesting that many had bypassed this process altogether.
“For you to become a reverend or apostle, it’s a process. You must go to a theological college and spend years. You don’t wake up one day and become Bishop something,” he noted, dismissing the religious credentials of the State House visitors.
Calibre of the clergy
Kisia expressed concern over the calibre of clergy now being welcomed into State House, warning that the presence of non-mainstream religious figures, with no apparent ideological conviction or theological grounding, signalled a worrying trend.
According to him, the president appeared desperate, surrounded by individuals who are often seen ministering to vulnerable and poor groups yet lack any serious doctrinal foundation.
He further claimed that none of the country’s mainstream bishops or respected clergy were present during the meeting, which, in his view, revealed that the head of state was politically cornered.
“I saw all these people with the president and no mainstream bishop or clergy. I knew this was a man in a corner. The president has been put in a corner. He is now calling every Dick, Tom, and Harry — anybody with a collar,” Kisia said, adding that even an ordinary person wearing a collar could have been called and left with a brown envelope.
Ruto’s body language
Commenting on the president’s body language during the event, Kisia described it as telling.
He observed the president clenching his fists while walking with the so-called clergy, behaviour that he interpreted as arrogant and uncharacteristic of a leader in the presence of spiritual figures.
“There is some way a president walks, with some grace, majestically. But if you see him walking like a ruffian, then there is a problem,” Kisia remarked.
This comes days after a group of pastors, evangelists, apostles visited the statehouse under the invitation of the ident. The visit, which included the groundbreaking of the statehouse church, sparked an uproar among Kenyans.
