Sources have told Sonko News that all is not well at Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga’s Karen Home following careless statements by Ida Odinga.
Speaking on Sunday, January 30, during the launch of the Christian Book by Archbishop Emeritus Habbakuk Abogno, Ida told NCCK to regulate the establishment of churches and do away with those that don’t meet the standard.
According to Ida Odinga, there has been mushrooming of small churches in the country with most of them having zero impact since their leaders had not gotten the necessary training.
She noted that many preachers had no clue on interpreting the Bible to the congregants since they just read them directly due to lack of training.
She added that many churches have become business entities where preachers use God’s name to enrich themselves as opposed to bringing followers closer to God.
“We want Kenyans to subscribe to religions that are formally registered and not those whose belief systems are commodified. It is also important that we conduct training for all those who minister the word of God,” Ida said.
However, the sentiments by Ida Odinga did not go well with majority of Kenyasns with others accusing her of trying to interfere with religious freedom. While others supported her sentiments, there were those that literally told her off.
As a result, insiders which spoke to Sonko News narrated that Raila Odinga has banned Ida Odinga from making such careless statements in public with an alternative of staying indoors instead of going to mess outside.
“Mzee is not happy with the statements Ida Odinga made and he has urged her to just stay indoors for now because he cannot afford to lose in minutes what he has worked on for years. Believe you me you won’t see Mama Ida in public places anytime soon.”
Besides being mad and consequently banning her from speaking anyhowly, Raila is said to have given her pressure to withdraw her weekend statement and apologize with immediate effect.
Consequently, Mama Ida on Tuesday released a statement where she apologized over her careless remarks. Below was the statement:
“I wish to this morning withdraw the statement I made to NCCK on Saturday 29th to regulate the churches under them in order to promote consistency and relevance in messaging for promotion of evangelism in Kenya .
It has come to my realization that my comments have not sat well with some members of the church. I sincerely apologize for the discomfort caused as I mean no harm to any person.
I also wish to state that my position on training of preachers was also blown out of context by the media reports circulating online. I reiterate that training only makes the service of preaching better and promotes the ministration of the word of God.
As a committed believer in Jesus Christ, I understand that preaching is a calling and anyone can be touched to administer the word of God. This is a fact I have appreciated for a long time and I have sat and listened to many preachers eloquently and intelligently deliver life changing summons.
I remain dedicated to promoting the growth of the church space for a better society in Kenya.”
In the meantime, Kenyans expressed mixed reactions as follows:
“I don’t see why H.E Ida Odinga should withdraw her statements. The churches need a lot of reformation. Truly some of them should even be scrapped off like yesterday. Ministering hasn’t become the call that it was meant to be but a money minting business for pastors and preachers. Some of them are not even trained on ministerial work, those are the ones who go ahead to stage manage some miracles in the name of winning numbers. Shame on you pastors!!!”
“There was zero need for the apologies. Who doesn’t know what most the root of most churches in this country. A small estate with about 4k people has 500 churches. Most of them preach very ungodly things. Mama we must stand strong to be counted as those who advocate for truth is this country.”
“We are in campaign season ,so anybody from Odinga family should be mindful of their utterances coz they are prone to manipulation”
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