Okiya Omtatah: Ruto’s mega church plan violates constitution
By Nancy Marende, July 7, 2025Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has criticised President William Ruto’s plan to build a mega church at State House, Nairobi, calling it illegal, immoral, and a blatant misuse of public funds.
In a press statement on Monday, July 7, 2025, Omtatah argued that constructing a religious building on public land violates Kenya’s constitutional principles of state neutrality on religion.
“Under the law, you cannot, without violating the Constitution, construct on public property a church, a mosque, a temple, or a shrine to any deity under the sun. The law is very clear. There is no State religion in Kenya,” he stated.
He pointed out that the State House sits on public land, whose use is strictly regulated by law, and cannot be altered at the whims of any individual.
“The land cannot be used at the whims of anybody, not even the President,” he stated.
Further, the senator took issue with the funding mechanism of the proposed project, accusing the president of planning to syphon public funds under vague budget lines.
Okiya on budget abuse
According to Omtatah, the 2024/2025 State House budget shows a suspicious allocation of Ksh3.1 billion under the ambiguous category of “other operating expenses.”
“That means that they have taken care of all known operating expenses of the State House, and the Ksh3,111,052,000 is to be used for anything the President dreams up, like that church,” he said.
Omtatah cited multiple sections of the Public Finance Management Act, which require budget estimates to indicate the specific purpose for which funds are intended. He claimed this allocation flouts those provisions, making it both opaque and unconstitutional.
“Section 39(1)(b)(V) of the Public Finance Management Act states that the format of the budget estimates shall include all estimated expenditure, by vote and by program, clearly identifying both recurrent and development expenditures,” he stated.
“Section 39(3) of PFM states that the Cabinet Secretary shall ensure that the expenditure appropriations and the budget estimates in an appropriation bill are presented in a way that—(a) is accurate, precise, informative, and pertinent to budget issues; and (b) clearly identifies the appropriations by vote and program,” he added.
“On its part, Regulation 33(e)(ii) of Public Finance Management (National Government) Regulations (LN 34 of 2015) states that ‘Appropriation shall be for a specific purpose or a specific program or item of expenditure.'”
Omtatah didn’t hold back, describing Ruto as “unscrupulous, unethical, manipulative, unpatriotic, and predatory”. He accused the president of attempting to plunder public resources while millions of Kenyans struggle in poverty.