LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The constitution stipulates there shall be no state religion and prohibits religious discrimination. The constitution provides for freedom of religion and belief individually or in communities, including the freedom to manifest any religion through worship, practice, teaching, or observance, and to debate religious questions. The constitution also states individuals shall not be compelled to act or engage in any act contrary to their belief or religion. These rights shall not be limited except by law, and then only to the extent that the limitation is “reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society.”

The constitution requires Parliament to enact legislation recognizing a system of personal and family law adhered to by Muslims. The constitution specifically provides for qadi courts to adjudicate certain types of civil cases based on Islamic law, including questions relating to personal status, marriage, divorce, or inheritance in cases in which “all the parties profess the Muslim religion.” The High Court has jurisdiction over civil and criminal proceedings, including those in the qadi courts, and accepts appeals of any qadi court decision.

The national penal code maintains blasphemy laws, which prohibit insulting religion or “wounding religious feelings” as misdemeanors. Destroying, damaging, or defiling any place of worship or object held sacred with the intention of insulting the religion of any class of persons is a misdemeanor, with a penalty of a fine or up to two years in prison. “Writing or uttering words with intent to wound religious feelings” carries a penalty of up to one year’s imprisonment. Crimes against the property of religious groups or places of worship are more likely to be treated as malicious destruction of property, which is also a misdemeanor.

According to the law, new religious groups, institutions or places of worship, and faith-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) must register with the Registrar of Societies, which reports to the Office of the Attorney General. The law prohibits unregistered or deregistered groups from operating, but the prohibition is frequently not enforced. Indigenous and traditional religious groups do not have to register, and many do not. To register, applicants must have valid national identification documents, pay a fee, and undergo security screening. Applicants seeking to register and lead a new religious society are required to hold a diploma or degree from a recognized theological institution. Registered religious institutions and places of worship are exempt from paying tax on tithes, offerings, and donations, as well as duty on imported goods. The law also requires that organizations dedicated to advocacy, public benefit, the promotion of charity, or research register with the NGO Coordination Board. The law requires religious institutions to file annual returns; failure to do so results in deregistration, but the penalty is frequently not enforced. Deregistration may also be appealed.

All public and private schools following the national education curriculum administer mandatory religious education classes. These classes focus on Christian, Muslim, or Hindu teachings and on the basic content of the religious texts of the religion being taught, as well as ethics. The Ministry of Education allows local communities and schools to decide which course to offer. The course selected usually depends on the dominant local religion and the sponsor of the school, which is often a religious group. Larger schools sometimes offer both Christian and Islamic classes. Students who do not belong to the religions offered in their school may not opt out of the classes, although the Court of Appeal ruled in May that schools cannot force students to abandon their core religious beliefs.

The law recognizes five systems of marriage: civil, Christian, Hindu, customary, and Islamic.

The Ministry of Information, Communications, and Technology must approve regional radio and television broadcast licenses, including for religious organizations.

The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

In May, President Ruto appointed the Taskforce on the Review of the Legal and Regulatory Framework Governing Religious Organizations to gather public input and formulate recommendations on standards and certification requirements for religious organizations and their leaders, as well as to identify gaps in the country’s legal, institutional, and governance frameworks that allowed the starvation deaths in Shakahola of several hundred followers of Pastor Paul MacKenzie, allegedly on his instructions, to occur without notice by authorities. The taskforce submitted an interim report to the President in November, and the President extended its mandate for another 90 days. The taskforce said it expected to release a final report to the public in early 2024.

Also in May, the Senate formed an ad hoc committee to investigate the proliferation of religious organizations and the circumstances surrounding the Shakahola deaths. In its October report, the committee issued recommendations for law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute responsible parties, including MacKenzie and his pastoral team, as well as county and police officials who failed to prevent the deaths. The committee also recommended strengthening government oversight of religious organizations and developing a new legal framework for registration, regulation, and compliance for religious organizations over a 12-month period. In particular, the new legal framework, requiring enactment by Parliament, would create an office of the registrar of religious organizations with new registration rules and broad oversight authority over compliance. The committee further recommended all religious organizations should join an umbrella religious body of a particular faith. The umbrella religious bodies would be registered and define theological training curricula as well as guidelines for their members’ activities.

The Registrar of Societies deregistered at least five churches during the year. In August, the Registrar deregistered Paul MacKenzie’s Good News International Ministries and the Newlife Prayer Center, led by an alleged associate of MacKenzie, Pastor Ezekiel Odero. Odero appealed the deregistration in court, and the High Court issued an order suspending the deregistration.

The Hindu Council of Kenya expressed concerns during the year over the law, enacted in 2022, requiring that persons applying to register religious groups hold a diploma or other degree from a recognized theological institution, since the Hindu faith does not recognize or require any specific theological certificates for Hindu priests.

During the first half of the year, human rights organizations such as HAKI Africa and Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) cited fewer concerns than in the past about the government’s antiterrorism tactics, which they said under the prior administration disproportionately affected Muslims. However, in November and December, HAKI and MUHURI reported that extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances had restarted, although they remained underreported. For example, on November 14, multiple press outlets reported unidentified men, presumably from the government security services, abducted Adan Ahmed Osman, a Somali national and Islamic school teacher in the Nairobi neighborhood of Eastleigh; at year’s end, his whereabouts remained unknown.

Human rights organizations continued to report complaints from predominantly Muslim communities, particularly in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi and coastal regions, regarding intimidation, arbitrary arrest, and extortion by police. Some complainants again stated police accused them of being members of al-Shabaab.

Some predominately Muslim ethnic groups, including Kenyan Somalis and Nubians, continued to report difficulties obtaining government identification cards. These communities stated government officials at times requested supporting documents not required by law and implemented vetting processes in a biased manner.

Since police officers typically were not permitted to serve in their home regions, officers in some Muslim-majority areas were largely non-Muslim. NGOs stated this often led to misunderstandings between police officers and the communities they served.

On May 12, the Court of Appeal ruled that compelling students to participate in interfaith activities that contradicted their faith was a direct violation of their freedom of religion under Article 32 of the constitution. The case was brought on behalf of Jehovah’s Witnesses students at the Catholic St Anne’s Primary School in Ahero, Kisumu, who asked to not be forced to attend Catholic Mass and other nonclassroom interfaith activities in school.

In November, the Court of Appeal ruled that a Muslim child born out of wedlock should receive an inheritance from the deceased father’s estate, counter to sharia law, which states a child born out of wedlock can only inherit from the mother. The three-judge bench ruled the rights of the child outweighed the parents’ marital status. Muslim groups stated their view that the ruling, and the Kenyan court hierarchy, ran counter to Islamic beliefs and values.

At year’s end, the 2022 petition by former Member of Parliament (MP) Stephen Ndichu, which sought to suspend the registration of the Atheists in Kenya (AIK) society and argued that the registration and operations of AIK violated the constitution, remained pending following the recusal of the first judge assigned. According to AIK, the former MP filed the court case in response to an AIK press statement criticizing the First Lady for hosting religious services at State House (the President’s residence).

The AIK continued to call on the government to abolish religious education in schools and recommended to a government task force on education reforms that religious education be replaced with philosophy and ethics courses.

In February, President Ruto announced the country’s first ever day of prayer following a joint call by religious leaders to dedicate an entire day to prayer to ease drought conditions in the nation.

Government meetings regularly began and ended with a prayer. The Office of Faith Diplomacy, housed under the Office of the First Lady, worked with faith-based organizations to address social problems through community engagement.

In March, following a Supreme Court ruling in February that affirmed the right of LGBTQI+ organizations to register as NGOs, an MP from the United Democratic Alliance Party, Mohammed Ali, cited the Quran and a Biblical passage that he said called for the death penalty for homosexual acts.