Kenyans Celebrate Thanksgiving with Hanging Questions after Sex scandal

BOSTON. Mass_The recent scandal that unfolded last week in Boston where a   renowned pastor of one of the largest Kenyan community churches was found guilty of 3 counts related to sexual harassment by a church based court has left a bitter sweet- taste among members of the close knit community, with many saying that it is evident that pastors in the Kenyan community churches have too much power over the worshippers that is being abused.

Others are also asking themselves why they have let people with questionable moral characters lead as elders and main decision makers in their churches who are only bent at protecting their appetite for fame, feeling of power and monetary benefits as opposed to leading their congregations to seek the biblical way of worship free of hypocrisy and blatant defilement of the altars of God.

   The scandal, that took the community by storm after a 14 hour marathon trial held at the Presbyterian church in Bedford, New Hampshire, has been followed by a flurry of activity, sending the rumor mills in the mill city of Lowell spinning at full throttle.

Since the story was broken by Ajabu Africa News, the only media company that managed to attend the open trial conducted by the PJC, a legal arm of the Presbyterian church of the USA, bloggers have been having a field day behind their computers, smart phones and other devises to weigh in on the unprecedented matter, literally on a 24/7 cycle.

  Other Kenyans have been calling the Ajabu Africa news room from all over the country   dismayed at the bizarre development that has taken place in a holy house of worship.

   “If this pastor did what he was accused of doing, then this is a sad moment for all Kenyans  who call themselves true Christians and profess the name of Jesus Christ as their personal savior”, said a caller from  Lowell.

  “This is the worst defilement of an altar of God I have ever heard of where a pastor is accused of doing such things and appears at the pulpit to lead in holy ceremonies ”, said another caller.

 The majority of Kenyans  said that  it is a good thing  that this issue has come to light since it  was a common rumor back in 2008 that kept festering in the shadows causing strained relashionships among Kenyans in Lowell, but now the rumors has been confirmed.

Many people said that, even if it was not true, the accusations themselves, by their very nature, should make the pastor stay out of church for a while by his own accord until the isssue is resolved if he truly practises true spiritual guidance to his people as opposed to wanting to be merely in control and in charge of the congregation all the time.

Many observers are wondering why there is no assistant pastor at the PCEA Ushindi church who should be taking over briefly and lead the church out of the spiritual and moral wilderness before the senor pastor returns if he will.

“Where there is smoke, there is fire no matter how much time you spend denying it”, said a caller who preferred to remain anonymous.

“This is a very painful development. However  it is good that it has finally come out so that it can finally be resolved and for the body of Christ to be healed”, said a caller from Missouri who said he was Pastor Karimi’s  teacher  when he was a youth pastor in Nairobi, Kenya, and a former Secretary General of the PCEA church in the entire East African region.

Many Kenyans contend that it is inconceivable what financial gain the 22 year old accuser would have stood to gain from accusing her pastor of inappropriately soliciting sexual favors from her, as the pastor is not a celebrity neither is he extremely rich to justify the risk of a young female member of his congregation to take such a drastic accusation.

  However, many of the pastor’s supporters remained adamant that the motive of the accuser seemed suspicious and probably was looking to get a financial gain  by raising the fiasco that has left many in the community divided with differing opinions.

 Others have indicated that the accuser’s mother pushed her to bring the accusations because she wanted a position at the politically charged church, or was disappointed after the pastor refused her sexual advances.

  Yet, other people have advanced wild theories that some pastors in the Lowell area are behind the move to accuse pastor Karimi so that they may find a way to take over his position at the church that according to reliable sources, pays a tidy amount of cool cash every month to the pastor as salary,which would take an average Kenyan to work 3 full time regular jobs to make.

  But amid the cranking of the rumor mills, most people have seemed to loose  the undeniable fact that many victims of  sexual abuse never find the courage to report the incidents to police and  many wait for years if they ever do it.

 According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, Sexual assault is one of the most under reported crimes, with 60% still being left unreported. Males are the least likely to report a sexual assault, though they make up about 10% of all victims.

Also, according to the Children and Youth Health, an International service based in Australia, that provides childen and youth with information to recognize and deal with sex abuse issues, many of the sex abuse cases that are heard of today are easily recognizable and should be dealt with immidiately to avoid long term injury to victims.

Most experts both at abuse advocacy organizations and in law enforcement indicate that investigators investigating cases of sexual abuse find testimonies of the abused victims more reliable in finding out the truth since hard evidence is hard to come by because of the very private nature of the offense, unless there was physical injury that was reported immidiately after an abuse.

The website lists several signs to look for to establish incidents or attempts of sexual abuse.(Read here).
 
However, these statistics apply in the American community.

In the African community, which has many taboos of their own just like many other other communities, the sheer majority of sex abuse incidents happen to young girl children , young teenage girls when they start showing signs of puberty, adn even young women who have just come of age, often by those who hold power and influence over them. It is a rampant practice and it is taboo for victims report .

 Perpetrators find an easy defense saying “where is the evidence”, because usually, no one else is there to witness the abuse.

Many mothers tell their daughters who report to them of having been sexually abused to keep quiet about it, hoping it will go away with time. This is so especially where the abuser is close to the family especially a father, a pastor or a close relative.

 Victims are made to understand that reporting such abuse will bring shame to the family and will be met with severe consequences if disclosed.

The scenario is pretty much the same in other African communities and is not exclusively a Kenyan problem.It is a human being problem!.

With a social community like the African community, many members of the public would rather a victim keeps quiet, because pursuing justice would open a can of worms within their own families where sexual abuse has most probably happened in the past.

However, very few people will pause to ask themselves this very important question; "What if it was my own daughter who went for counselling or prayers with our pastor, or my sister or my cousin , and then came back and told me about this situation regarding my pastor? Would i be interested in trying to establish the correctness of the accusation or would i pretend it did not happen because i am so sure the man of God can not do such a thing, and dismiss my daughter as having a hidden agenda aganist the pastor?"

Kikuyu traditional folklore has is that a father one time brought his young girl to the forest to cut firewood.

 In the process, the father climbed a very tall tree and once at the top, he started a heated, unintelligible soliloquy with an imaginary higher spirit.

Meanwhile, his flabbergasted teenage daughter waiting at the base of the tree looked up to him as he thrashed his feet , speaking in tongues and crying with fear of death assured by the imaginary higher power he was talking to.

 “Yes God. I hear you. I will climb down immediately and tell her that”, the father said in a fearful voice.” I don’t want to die now. I will do it God. I am going to do it right now God. ”, he continued as he climbed down the tree faster than he climbed.

 Once he rejoined his daughter, she was very worried that her dear father who was her provider and protector was about to die and asked him what was happening and who he was speaking to.

 “I am so scared. The father confessed. When I went up there, God was speaking to me and told me if I did not do what he asked me to , I will die right now”, he told his daughter in a feigned  fearful voice.

 “What did he tell you to do”, the daughter asked.

 “He told me I must have sex with you right now right here or else I will die immediately”, the father told his daughter, openly “terrified” at the prospect of meeting his maker prematurely if he defied the “orders just issued from above”.

   The daughter, now more flabbergasted than before, reluctantly gave in to the bizarre demands of her father who proceeded to defile her and satisfy his incestuous sexual lust for his own daughter.

   After the business was over, the father told the daughter that, “oh and by the way, God also said that if you tell anybody about this, you will also die right away”, hoping to secure silence from her to her mother.

  The daughter got so traumatized by the sinful act from her father that for many years, she did not have the courage to tell her mother, as she did not expect her to believe her.

And when she eventually did it, the mother, surely as expected, told her that such things should not be talked about since it simply did not happen.

 The girl was so dejected and lived her life hamstrung by emotional pain, shame and guilt, with no one to listen to her and no help her start a healing process.

 The widely known Kikuyu folk tale told in many places underscored the widespread incidents of sexual abuse in the African community, both at home and in the Diaspora and the sheer propensity of some people to use the holy name of God to perpetrate unimaginable acts or hide their true intentions while at the same time serving God in holy places.

Other versions of the story also abound depending on the locality in Kikuyuland, suggesting strongholds exist everywhere including right in church, and they that they are difficult to shake off.

 But, while this may happen in the darkest places of homes, bushes or forests in Africa,  where documentation  and follow up of such issues are non existent, the allegation of sexual abuse of a 21 year old Kenyan girl by her pastor  that was a mere rumor two years ago hit the community like a ton of truck.

 Many resorted to the same typical African denial system. “Oh, this did not happen. They want to remove the pastor from church. There is a hidden motive.They are jealous of the pastor. It is the people from this area who hate a pastor from this area so they want him out".

Most , for that matter, followed the   typical kikuyu folklore  solution of "monkey don't see, monkey don't hear, monkey don't tell" about this situation and let the pastor continue preaching without  any apology  to the congregation or his  community or without the rehabilitation  ordered by the PJC before he resumes his  holy place at  the pulpit.

  Reliable sources and bloggers  who are  members of the PCEA Ushindi church, and who have sworn to stand  by the true teachings of the  word of  God regarding the behavior of a priest in church, and who attended the church service last Sunday where the pastor did not come, said that officials from the presbytery of Northern New England who came to deliver the  guilty verdict of the PJC  to the members of the church, and recommendations    to censure Rev. Mumbui Karimi from church activities for six months were heckled by members of the church  and their announcement cut short.

 “We want our pastor back without any conditions”, many people were reported as saying.

   Bloggers supporting Dr. Karimi dismissed the PJC as a kangaroo court that is not legally binding like a court of law therefore it's guilty verdict for the pastor should be disregarded.

 Many text messages started flying asking members in support of the unconditional restoration of the pastor so come to the next Sunday service prepared to sign a petition to have the pastor return to the church immediately.

  Led by the new board of elders a the church that was ushered in during the church elections last Sunday, a good number of the members see no need to give a young girl in their community and the pastor to have some time to deal with accusations in the right way, and satisfy conditions set forth by the overseeing body that led the trial.

“It’s a classic case of denial and dispersion of the problem at hand rather than find Godly and justifiable ways to fix it”, said one Ajabu Africa contributor.

Resolving this matter in an amicable manner would also be good for the entire Kenyan community in New England who love both pastor Karimi and Caroline Gakuya, and it would be a good thing if a way was found to deal with it the right way devoid of threatening or dismissing anyone so that our faith in church leadership as a vehicle for our spiritual guidance can be restored.

 However, majority of people in the wider Kenyan community say that it is an indication of a bigger problem that is festering in our churches in America where the pastors have usurped power and elevated themselves to a high pedestal, surrounding themselves with loud mouthed cronies who will protect the position of the pastors regardless of whether he is right or wrong.

“Pastor Karimi is not the problem here. The problem is the set up and governance of our churches”, said Joseph Kariuki from Springfield.

 “Most of our Kenyan churches have pastors as the ultimate power, the chairman of the board of church, the final authority in matters related to running of the churches. At the e same time, they are the spiritual heads”, he added.

 This, Kariuki said, “does not reflect a democratic leadership and it is open to abuse”.

Many people are now wondering who is the overseeing authority of their churches that more and more seen to be operating as sole proprietor businesses run by the pastors and their families, where curious questions by members on transparency and accountability of funds are not entertained.

 “If you ask them to account for the money raised in tithes and offerings, they give you an acid look and make you enemy number one”, said a dumbfounded Kenyan.

Other Kenyans are wondering why many pastors have veered off from focusing in consistently ministering to the spiritual needs and various problems of their members and spend more time , energy and funds organizing political events at their churches and going head over heals to get renowned politicians attend their events.

 “If you have a problem, many of our pastors will visit your home and say a quick 5 minute prayer for you if at all they come, then move on to other businesses”.

Pastors are also being accused of getting themselves too much entangled into figuring out ways man means of pressuring Kenyans to maximize tithes and offerings during events out of ordinary   church services that are hardly accounted for, thus corrupting their moral compass.

 Rev. Karimi’s saga has also resulted in many people accusing other pastors of widespread gross sexual immorality while visiting homes of Kenyans for counseling without the company of their wives, while others have been openly known for soliciting sexual favors from colleagues at work.

 “Many pastors think that if they ask for sex from a person at work, that person will not talk to anyone becasue they are a pastor.Well, they are wrong, people are talking and the picture is not looking good for some of our pastors", an Ajabu source said.

During a deliberation meeting in Woburn last Saturday, Kenyans who attended a community meeting to discuss the issue of burial fund raisings said that it is time for progressive Kenyans to come out and get organized in a way that will enable them have a representative, unifying organization that is not under the control of the pastors so that they can handle community affairs without the undue influence of the pastors.

 “We have a problem with our pastors and our churches as evidenced by the divisions among our churches and we as progressive Kenyans can not wait until we are driven into the ditch”, said Patrick Inyangwa, one of the Kenyans present at the meeting, representing the Avalogoli Vene, a Maragoli self -help group of the Luhya community from the Vihiga area.

"This is the time for everyone to come together,create a common organization to unite Kenyans and move our community forward ", added Sam Mwaura, of the Kenya Christian Fellowship in America (KCFA), Boston Chapter, who also attended the meeting.

They agreed  that another meeting will be called soon to widen the  interim commitee members with a view to holding open and free elections in about six months time.

 Such an organization, they said, would be organized to be highly democratic, transparent and accountable, complete with elections of office bearers and external auditors to run financial audits, the pastors would be welcome as ordinary Kenyans and run for office if they want to, but should not be allowed to be the “automatic voices of the people".

"We need to put our fears aside, cast away our differences and join hands to move our community forward", the Kenyans agreed.

 As they celebrate the thanksgiving holiday, many Kenyans are hoping for an amicable and just conclusion of the sexual abuse fiasco hovering over every apartment, hair salon, barber shop, club, churches, facebook, blogospehre and other places where Kenyans congregate.

Hopefully, both sides in this matter will do the right thing in the eyes of God and man, make compromises and apologies placed where due, so as to help us to put this matter to rest as a community, and usher in a new era of community organization that can pave the way for the community to flourish in safety while casting traditional taboos away.

This would help nature and grow strong and democratic institutions such as churches and other community organizations as opposed to selected “spiritual strongmen”, for the sake of our many children in the Diaspora.

 Have a happy Thanksgiving dinner as you deliberate and pray for the healing and unity of the Kenyan community in New England at this trying time.

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