This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Kenya, Mombasa pastors are facing a new challenge: financial struggles. The clerics, led by Elijah Mulavu, chairman of the Mombasa Pastors Fellowship, have appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to open up churches, which were closed in March 2020.
Speaking during a press briefing at Uhuru Garden, Mombasa, Mulavu stated that many of his colleagues had turned to casual jobs such as hawking, touting, and jua kali businesses due to lack of enough finances to cater for themselves and their families.
"We have no money because we have no Christians in church to preach to. We pastors are broke and we want President Kenyatta to open Churches," Mulavu said.
The pastors also blamed the high number of teenage pregnancies on the closure of churches, arguing that fellowship programs would help avoid idleness among the youth.
"If the government of Kenya couldn't have close our places of worship, Youths could keep themselves busy with church activities and attending church seminars hence we couldn't have such high number of teenage pregnancies," Mulavu added.
The clerics also stated that they were fully aware of the existence of the pandemic and that they had engaged in the war against it.
"We have been sensitized as leaders by the Ministry of Health and NGOs like World Vision on how to deal with affected people and fighting stigma whenever the case is and how to protect ourselves and our loved ones," Mulavu said.
The secretary of the association, pastor Jane Kamau, weighed in on Susan Kihika's bill which would allow abortion if passed and said they were firmly against it.
