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Two days ago, during the evening show on Kenya's popular radio station Classic 105, the radio host asked listeners to call him to answer the question about what they would do with KES 2 million if they knew it was about dubious money. At the end of the show, the host explained that his show was a response to a claim that the KES 2 million was "found" by a bishop. The outcome of his show? All callers failed to give a direct answer to the question... We know about churches in Kenya. Unlike in the Netherlands, where such study is at the university level, there is no high theologic education. So, you need to be graduated to become a priest or a pastor. That is not what we have seen in Kenya, where everyone who wants to be a pastor starts on the street. In 2019, we visited Kenya for the first time to research the forced eviction of a tribe from the Mau forest near Narok. We were surprised to see many churches within one square kilometer while on the way to our accommodation. It became our interest, and we would look into it in 2021. In 2020, there was a coronavirus pandemic. The country knows several dubious pastors, including Ezekiel, Kanyari, James Ng'ang'a, and Dorkas Wanjiru Rigathi, the wife of impeached vice president Rigathi Gachagua. They are all billionaire "evangelists" in contrast with their followers, particularly in villages and towns. But it was James Ng'ang'a who accelerated our preparation for the research on Kenya's church industry because of his flamboyant lifestyle and his controversial remarks. In 2023, Ezekiel was brought into connection with "pastor" Paul Mackenzie, who was behind the mass "self-starvation" and strangulation deaths of at least 429 followers dumped in mass graves in the Shakahola forest outside Malindi. When we posted about Ezekiel's wealth on a now defunct Facebook account, Ezekiel sought contact with us that we declined.
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