By Joseph Barasa
A Catholic First Win
The Media has played a critical
role the world over in playing fiddle to multi-million dollar conspiracies by
easy fortune hunters to make a killing in monetary terms where they have not
sweated nor honestly earned.
These conspiracies have seen the
criminally minded fortune hunters walk away with millions after using the power
of the media and its gullibility and greed for record breaking scoops to
execute their nefarious activities successfully.
In Kenya’s case the media
practitioners culpability does not stop there, because there is also the
critical question of corruption among them and greed for bribes through extortion
based on “seemingly damaging” stories levelled against certain personalities
through negative publicity that are never interrogated before being published.
Inevitably the culprits are
usually averse to negative publicity, whether based on facts and truth or mere
falsehoods and conspiracies concocted by the fortune hunters, who sometimes
share the proceeds with the fortune hunters who immediately vanish in thin air
only to emerge when they have concocted yet another conspiracy.
There was a classic case in Kenya
in the year 2009, when the Catholic Church in Kenya scored a first in the world by effectively taming a
deliberately calculated conspiracy which had been hatched against one of its
own priests for the first time through the media not only to whittle out cash
out of the targeted priest but also fraudulently obtain property worth billions
of shillings belonging to a charity foundation the priest had set up.
These were the first ever
sensational sexual abuse allegations publicly aired ever levelled at one of (Catholic
Church) its priests in particular and the institution at large, but now the
Insight can reveal how the conspiracy was tamed – the priest’s cash and the
property of the foundation saved.
The first win against such
conspiracies came at the time when the church was besieged globally and reeling
from ever increasing scandalous accusations and litigations. These have
resulted into multi-billion dollar payoffs in settlement awards to alleged
victims of abuse at the hands of priests and other church leaders – either in
or out of court.
Locally, the onslaught by the
media on the church driven by apparently hidden forces, in the recent months
was just an upshot of the media and fortune hunters, real or imagined have
launched on the Catholic Church globally.
Because of these scandalous accusations
and litigations against the church, it has been forced to rake out billions of
dollars to settle litigations either out of court or in court. The accusations
have always been too sensational to ignore and have often threatened to tear
the dioceses or even the church asunder.
FR. RENATO SESANA KIZITO
Gold Diggers
As a result, gold diggers have
sprung up from the blues to cash in on the Church’s diplomatic approach to
settle issues no matter how false or true they may be. This
has seen the emergence of fortune hunters who fabricate stories against the
global institution that prefers to handle its matters internally rather than
publicly.
Perhaps it is from this sense
that the church is not ready to fight back against its accusers that
fortune hunters have emerged in hordes the world over. The eruption of
sexual abuse allegations against Father Renato Sesana Kizito in 2009 is still
fresh in the minds of some of the church adherents and the general public. As
if to shame the devil, the police and medical investigations cleared the priest
of any wrong doing in the sexual abuse conspiracy.
When Fr. Kizito was faced with
what is becoming a global phenomenon against the Catholic Church, the church came
out, not only praying, but also fighting for the truth to prevail. From time
immemorial, there is virtually no place in the world where the church, priest
or prelates have emerged winners of such sensational criminal accusations.
Even by taking the bull by its
horns, the war may not be over, for devils are known for their devious tenacious
determination. However, at least the church, through Fr. Kizito’s fortitude,
won its first battle ever, as the architects of the malicious conspiracy go
back to the drawing boards.
What is clear is that, unlike
other cases which have plagued the church in other parts of the world, the
architects in Fr. Kizito’s case obviously wanted to borrow a leaf from their
lot, the fortune hunters of the developed world, to grease their unquenchable
thirst from the church’s properties worth billions.
Fr. Kizito reported to the police
concerning the ongoing criminal activities that targeted the Koinania Centre
properties. He cited the illegal sell of the Shalom prime property off Ngong
road to. However, the police had not made any arrests or made any progress.
The property which was meant to
build a Shalom University was suspected to have been sold to Great Lakes
University of Kisumu in Nyanza province under mysterious circumstances. The
Board of Trustees at Koinania Centre learnt of the fraudulently nefarious activity
after the title deed to the property was stolen from its offices.
At the time, the mainstream media
had turned a blind eye on interrogating the real issues behind the allegations
and digging deeper to get to the truth by simply getting to the genesis of the
matter and interrogating both sides of the coin until when JEV Communications
and the Insight entered the scene and
in the process interviewed a priest who was closely familiar with the genesis
of the conspiracy.
According to the Priest who did
not want to be named, many people did not have a deep understanding or even a
rudimentary knowledge of the church as an institution as well as how its
leadership is supposed to operate.
That the only sure way to deal
with wayward fortune hunters seeking to make a killing in monetary and property
terms is to take the individuals by the horns and not shy away from pursuing
legal means to get to the truth. It is only by getting the truth that the
church shall be free and those intending to design ways of extorting from it
shall be forced to think twice by pulling a trick.
This does not mean that the media
which falls prey to such conspiracies and manipulations should be left to go
scot free for failing to do its journalistic duties thoroughly to get a
balanced, accurate, fair and factual well interrogated editorial copy.
“For if there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear and the truth
will set you free and shame the devil to think twice before trying to formulate
any other evil designs or conspiracies,” says the Father.
Indeed this is a
very powerful quote from the priest whose words of advice should be emulated by
all not only within Kenya, but also outside the world in fighting the emerging
evil fortune hunters and particularly the media practitioners in protecting
their profession from such blatant abuses.
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