Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit of the Anglican Church of Kenya has demanded that the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, and the Director of Criminal Investigations, Mohammed Amin, bring to book the goons who attacked All Saints Cathedral on Friday. Failing that, he said, the two should vacate their offices for failing to protect Kenyans, framing the demand as a direct test of the leadership of the national police service.
The archbishop issued the ultimatum during a Sunday church service held at the All Saints Cathedral. Speaking from the pulpit, he questioned the government's laxity in dealing with what he described as a culture of criminal gangs taking shape in the country, treating the cathedral raid as the latest sign of a problem the authorities have allowed to grow unchecked.
Sapit assured worshippers and the wider public that the incidents would not silence the church in its demand for accountability. He cast the church as a voice that calls for responsibility, insisting that intimidation would not deter it from speaking out on behalf of ordinary citizens caught up in the rising tide of gang violence.
In one of his sharpest remarks, the archbishop wondered why the government had been willing to send police officers abroad to Haiti to contain goons there, yet appeared unable to crack the whip on similar gangs operating within Kenya. He used the comparison to underline what he sees as a troubling gap between the state's capacity overseas and its response at home.
The leadership of All Saints Cathedral, on Sunday, condemned what it called a growing trend of attacks targeting places of worship, a trend it said the government seems unable to curb despite previous assurances. The church directed its displeasure squarely at the national police service leadership, accusing it of standing by while sacred spaces are violated.
The demand follows the daring attack by goons within the church compound on Friday, an assault that struck a civic engagement event being held at the venue. The episode has sharpened public questions over who controls and finances the gangs, and why officers have so far appeared unable, or unwilling, to bring those behind the attacks to justice.