Why is Kigali tightening the screws on church buildings and spiritual teams? | EUROtoday

“I“I’ll discover one other place to wish,” murmurs Isaiah, in front of the closed doors of his small church in Kigali. “550 locations of worship have been briefly suspended out of 882 within the 3 districts of the capital,” confided Emma-Claudine Ntirenganya, responsible for communication for the Rwandan capital, in mid-August. A drop in an ocean given the massive number of closures at the end of summer, following a national audit launched by the Rwandan Governance Board (RGB), responsible for organizing and monitoring faith-based organizations. Out of nearly 14,000 places of worship monitored, 5,600 churches were closed, mostly Pentecostal churches, for non-compliance with a law enacted in 2018 to monitor religious organizations and places of worship, which President Paul Kagame deemed too numerous.

More than 700 “illegal” establishments had been closed down at the time. “These places had one year to comply with the basic requirements and five years to meet the remaining ones,” explained RGB director Usta Kayitesi. They must now have a certificate of registration or compliance issued by the RGB and a letter of collaboration issued by the district authorities where the place is located. “They must not be in an open space or tent, be used exclusively for prayers, have toilets, be soundproof and be accessible. Also, they must have adequate ventilation, a flash guard, water, a place to wash hands and other necessary hygienic facilities,” listed Judith Kazaire, an RGB official familiar with the matter.

Places deemed “dangerous”

“Above all,” she continues, “the head of the place of prayer must have a degree in theology or a degree in another field with a certificate in theology.” A measure deemed necessary by many religious leaders, starting with the Reverend Antoine Rutayisire, retired pastor of the Anglican Church of Rwanda: “In most churches, pastors have a primary education level and, in a country that has put education at the forefront, churches that do not educate their pastors would be self-destructive in the long term. The majority of the population today has a minimum secondary education level. Uneducated pastors would be analogues in the digital age.”

If strict control is exercised, it is because the expansion of places of worship outside any framework has been increasing in recent years. Thus, self-proclaimed preachers who are unscrupulous about the well-being of the populations – they collect significant financial donations in the name of faith and promise miracles in exchange – have set up revival churches in caves, cellars or barns. Places deemed “harmful” and unsanitary by the authorities, who fear sectarian excesses, as in neighboring Kenya where Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is being tried these days for “terrorism”. Leader of an apocalyptic evangelical sect, he has incited more than 400 followers to fast until death.

Forty-three religious groups banned

In this unprecedented takeover in terms of scale, Paul Kagame's government has also banned the activity of 43 religious groups throughout the country since August 28. Most of the groups concerned belong to Pentecostal denominations, including the Lutheran Church, a member of the Lutheran World Federation created in the 1990s in Rwanda to continue the work of German missionaries. A way to better control “fraudulent” pastors, to borrow a word from the Rwandan president. “Many of those church buildings hurt folks – for instance by taking cash that the poorest desperately want beneath clearly false pretexts,” adds the pro-government daily. The New Times.

In early August, a leading pastor of the Pentecostal Church of Ngarama, in the eastern province of the country, was arrested with some of the faithful for continuing his service in a church that had been closed by the authorities for failure to comply with established rules. These revival churches are experiencing significant growth in Rwanda – as in the rest of Africa. According to a 2022 US government report, 21% of the 14 million Rwandans now belong to the Pentecostal Church, while 40% of them remain faithful to the Roman Catholic Church. Faced with criticism, particularly on X, who fear that the government is undermining freedom of worship, the Minister of Local Government, Jean-Claude Musabyimana, assumes: “This just isn’t carried out to forestall folks from praying, however to make sure the safety and tranquility of the trustworthy.”