Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana has officially withdrawn the Religious Organisations Bill, which sought to regulate religious groups.
The senator’s withdrawal of the contentious Bill came after he held talks with clergy from the Pentecostals and Evangelicals Association. In a joint presser, Mungatana, the sponsor of the Bill, revealed that he had formally written to the Speaker of the Senate seeking to withdraw the Bill.
He said This decision allows for further consensus building among all stakeholders to ensure the proposed regulations align with the diverse needs and concerns of the religious community.
“I have withdrawn the Bill so that we can all get an opportunity to involve all the necessary stakeholders and come up with a broad framework for developing legislation in the future. We want to come up with a regulation law that is good for everybody,” he stated.
The bill, which had passed its first reading, proposed measures to curb extremism and unregulated religious practices, including penalties of up to Ksh 5 million or three years in jail for operating unregistered religious organizations.
On the other hand, the religious leaders agreed to form a task force that will develop a comprehensive framework for self-regulation. The clergy also agreed to withdraw all civil cases filed in court challenging the religious Bill.
Mungatana proposed the Bill in September 2024 triggering a back-and-forth exchange between him and the religious leaders. He cited the Shakahola massacre as a reason for putting forward the Bill in order to prevent extremist religious inclinations. Even so, the tax-exemption status for religious organisations in Kenya has been subject to fiery debate over the years.