Makau Mutua: I see Archbishop Anthony Muheria as future Pope
Archbishop Anthony Muheria.
The fortunes of the Kenyan Church have ebbed and flowed over the decades. Though not monolithic, the Church has at times been deeply conservative, but also refreshingly progressive, at others. It was initially in bed with the colonial state.
It was a Siamese twin of the British Empire in colonial Kenya. In that role, it was a lead agent for eviscerating the sovereignty of all Kenyan Nations and implanting the colonial state.
It was a lead player in delegitimising Kenya’s African cultures. But later, segments of the Church helped liberate Kenya from demonic one-party rule.
Then it lost all morality after the 2007 elections. Today, the Church is again finding its voice under Archbishop Anthony Muheria of the Archdiocese of Nyeri.
I’ve known Archbishop Muheria since he was the Bishop in my native Kitui. People – whether lay or clergy – don’t come any more erudite than Archbishop Muheria.
I have heard him preach the gospel many times. His sermons are deep, empathetic, and extremely provocative. The man is a gifted thinker and philosopher.
What has always amazed me is how he’s able to weave the most complex narratives and thunderous ideas into simple digestible truths. Most of the Archbishop’s congregations are simple folk, the kind of people we call salt of the earth.
The Church belongs especially to them, not the fat cats. His messages of an ethical life guided by the tenets of social justice hit home every time.
Cry during his sermons
In Kitui, I saw peasants and the poor cry during his sermons. And it wasn’t because he was a demagogic pastor like those who deceive with “prosperity” preachments.
He connected innately with common folk. He spoke to their fears and hope here and in the afterlife. He never spoke of funny shortcuts to money, or crazy get-rich-quick schemes.
I never heard him exalt people to the stampede of riches. He always asked people to live right and treat their neighbour as they wished to be treated.
At first, the good Archbishop spoke to Kitui audiences, but slowly his message has become national. I have seen the natural transformation with mine own eyes. Archbishop Muheria has become a national phenomenon.
Archbishop Muheria is a man of letters. He will sit with kings and queens as easily as he shares a meal with the so-called “wretched of the earth.”
His ministry – undoubtedly – is to the latter. It is here where his message of uniting the Church to the mission of democracy and good governance has found resonance.
Religion without works is dead. In its true character, the Church ought not to be the opiate of the people, but another check and balance to state power. It should hold Caesar accountable.
This is where the Kenyan Church often goes astray. I saw, for example, a senior pastor at Bomas during the 2022 elections tell Azimio to, in effect, “shut up and sit down.”
That wasn’t always the case. There are times when the Church spoke up for the weak and the downtrodden. Who can forget Father Kaiser who was callously murdered under KANU for speaking truth to power?
The same macabre fate met the remarkable Bishop Alexander Muge. But perhaps no modern cleric spoke as forcefully and as fearlessly about dictatorship than Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki.
The cleric with a penetrating intellect and sharp tongue even used to roast the late dictator Daniel arap Moi in broad daylight. He became a leading voice for the Church in the struggle for the Second Liberation.
After Archbishop’s Ndingi, the Church took leave of its conscience. That’s until Archbishop Muheria’s entry on the scene.
Most recently, we have heard Archbishop Muheria preach the politics of ethics and morality targeting both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza. He’s asked the leadership of Kenya Kwanza to be more compassionate and not arrogant, and to listen to the people.
I know many people were surprised to hear the Archbishop say these things on a live television broadcast. I wasn’t one of them. That’s how he speaks both in private and public – the unvarnished truth.
And that’s why Archbishop Muheria has become not just the conscience of the Church but the conscience of the nation. He is Archbishop Ndingi’s moral heir in the Church. There’s no longer a moral void in the Church. A new prince is here.
One of the regions where the Catholic Church is growing the fastest is Africa. Yet Popes have been drawn from among Whites in Europe. The current Pope Francis is of course from Latin America, a first, but he’s a white man of Italian descent. It’s about time Africa produced the first modern Black Pope.
When I scan the continent, nay, the globe – I see no one better able to fill that seat in the future than Archbishop Muheria. He stands for the best values of the Church. He’s an intellectual par excellence. Most importantly, he’s the conscience of the Church. May he continue to guide our country.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
