{"id":117654,"date":"2025-07-06T14:04:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T14:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/06\/i-didnt-start-the-church-at-state-house-it-was-already-there-president-ruto\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T14:04:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T14:04:23","slug":"i-didnt-start-the-church-at-state-house-it-was-already-there-president-ruto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/i-didnt-start-the-church-at-state-house-it-was-already-there-president-ruto\/","title":{"rendered":"I didn\u2019t start the church at State House \u00a0it was already there: President Ruto"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Jul 6 \u2013 President William Ruto has defended the ongoing construction of a new church building at State House, saying it is inappropriate for the house of God to remain in a dilapidated state while he lives in comfort at the house on the hill.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ruto revealed that the chapel at State House has existed for years and that he found it in its current condition, explaining that the construction will cost Sh300 million, dismissing the quoted Sh1.2 billion for the construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t start the church at State House \u00a0it was already there. But it is not right for me to live in a good place while the church is made of mabati (tin),\u201d he told a congregation in Embu County during a Sunday service.<\/p>\n

The President said the decision to improve the place of worship within State House is not about extravagance but about reverence for God and espousing a \u00a0God-fearing nation.<\/p>\n

President Ruto quoted from the book of Haggai 1:4, defend the church project, drawing a sharp contrast between the grandeur of the statehouse residence compared to the place of worship within the compound.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church is in State House, and I didn\u2019t start it. The only problem is that it\u2019s made of tin.Do you want me to ask God, \u2018I lived in State House, but the church was made of tin\u2019? What should I answer?\u201dhe posed.<\/p>\n

Ruto said a decent sanctuary for around 300 worshippers within State House would cost an estimated KSh300 million, referencing modern church structures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a proper multi-storey church like this one costs KSh300 million, is it not fitting that we build a worthy house of worship for God at the State House?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cNow let me ask you, people of Mbeere, why did you invite me here to help build a mabati church, and then you want the church at State House to remain mabati? Let us build a proper house of worship here \u00a0and there,\u201dhe added.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru had warned of possible legal action over President William Ruto\u2019s decision to build a church within the State House compound, arguing that the move goes against the Constitution\u2019s provisions on religious neutrality.<\/p>\n

In a statement posted on X on Saturday, Njiru cited Article 8 of the Constitution, which clearly states, \u201cThere shall be no State religion,\u201d insisting that the government must remain neutral and inclusive in matters of faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you choose to build a Church, then you must equally build a Mosque, a Hindu temple and our African traditional shrines. Otherwise, we are heading to court,\u201d Njiru declared.<\/p>\n

He stressed that the Constitution was designed to protect the country from religious bias by ensuring all beliefs are treated equally under the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr President, there is a reason why the Constitution provided that there shall be no state religion,\u201d he added, maintaining that any state-linked involvement in building religious structures must reflect Kenya\u2019s religious diversity.<\/p>\n

Njiru\u2019s remarks have added to an ongoing public debate on the intersection of religion and government affairs, especially following recent developments at State House.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Jul 6 \u2013 President William Ruto has defended the ongoing construction of a new church building at State House, saying it is inappropriate for the house of God to remain in a dilapidated state while he lives in comfort at the house on the hill. Ruto revealed that the chapel at State House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}