NAIROBI, Kenya — Following a historic election, William Ruto took the oath of office as Kenya’s fifth president.

During the ceremony, Ruto, First Lady Rachel Ruto, and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, along with his wife, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, all knelt for prayer. The head of deliverance, Bishop Mark Kariuki, charged them to rule the country in a godly and righteous manner.

While the prayer session after being sworn in as president may have surprised foreigners watching the event on live television, Ruto is known for being a man who values prayer.

Back in the late 1980s through the early 1990s, Ruto and some of his fellow university students formed the North Rift Evangelistic Team, a group that visited schools and colleges sharing the gospel. Those who worked with him in NORET say he was a gifted evangelist with a good understanding of the Bible. 

“Ruto was never the rapid fire preacher. However, he had this sense of urgency in his preaching and a good grounding in Scripture,” explained Kaplich Barsito, a communications specialist and former NORET member.

Barsito recalled Ruto’s zeal for reaching souls when he preached in a public bus traveling 350 kilometers (217 miles) from Eldoret City to the capital Nairobi.

“He just stood in the bus preaching with one of NORET members interpreting into Swahili,” Barsito told ReligionUnplugged.com. “It was simply amazing.”

This was same zeal that Ruto, the previous deputy president, brought to the campaign trail. His party, the Kenya Kwanza Coalition, was presented to voters as a god-fearing organization. Ruto’s campaign tactic was a soft dig at his rival, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whom his team painted as a man devoid of strong Christian beliefs.

By Ruto crediting God for his victory, many Kenyans were reminded that his former boss, Uhuru Kenyatta, had shunned Ruto, opting to support his adversary Odinga for the country’s top job. Consequently, Ruto declared that although he did not have the state backing him, he had God and the people on his side.

With Ruto becoming the head of state, there have been murmurs of him turning Kenya into a theocracy. Citizens are concerned about this because of the number of church leaders, especially the evangelicals who have been trooping to the State House — the president’s residence — to pledge allegiance. On Sept. 25, barely two weeks into power, these criticisms rose when Ruto hosted an interdenominational church service inside the State House.

David Ocholla, a politician and a clergyman supporting the Azimio Party that lost to Ruto, asked, “Why do some people … in Kenya think that they are (more) spiritual, prayerful, faithful and God fearing than others? Let us not misuse our faith and belief in the name of defending our wrongs. Let us stop hiding behind prayers and face the reality as it is. Otherwise, we will end up astray as a nation. No one is 100% perfect before God. We are all equals, and the only perfection we have is the salvation brought by the death of Jesus Christ. Other things we are doing (are) just but a bravado of the drama Judas Iscariot played in the Bible. Stop misusing the faith.”

For his part, satirist Gabriel Oguda said, “Evangelical Christians are being hosted at State House for a church service. It’s only fair that Muslims also be hosted every Friday, Adventists every Saturday, Legio Marianists (a local sect) every Monday, Anglicans every Tuesday, Catholics every Wednesday and atheists every Thursday.”

Respected newspaper columnist Macharia Gaitho also weighed in on the debate, advising Ruto to watch out for pastors who want to misuse their closeness to him for personal gain. “Many of those Holy Roller preachers (who attended the State House prayers) specialize in the ‘Prosperity Gospel’, showing off their limousines, jewelry, designer attire and gilded palaces, while condemning the majority of their parishioners to eternal poverty,” he wrote.

“Even as he prays, the President must be wary,” Gaitho added. “He should keep one eye open for preachers who lie to him that his election was anointment from God; which could lead to dangerous delusions that he answers to a power higher than the voters who put him in office.

“We live in a world where, all too often, leaders use religion as camouflage for all that is wrong. President Ruto must be cautious of preachers who will be out to divert him from the Hustler agenda and try to create for their own selfish ends a regime far removed from the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the common man.”

Dr. Peter Mbae, a journalist and a Christian, explained that critics have accused the new government of being too Christian leaning. Some even claim it is embracing only Pentecostals and sidelining other Christian groups.

“We agree Kenya is a secular state, meaning it embraces all religions ,including Christianity,” Mbae told ReligionUnplugged.com. “The fact that the DP is a Christian doesn’t mean he will not work with Muslims, Hindus and traditionalists. … The fact that he is a Pentecostal Christian doesn’t mean he will not work with Protestants, Indigenous and other Christian sects.”

He added, “There’s nothing wrong in embracing God and spirituality in leadership just like David, Joseph, Daniel and Esther, who believed leadership is a calling from God to lead His people and that you need God daily for His wisdom to lead them.”

Despite the criticism, the Rutos seem unfazed. When addressing members of the clergy and other Christians at the service, Rachel Ruto said they will be holding prayer ceremonies month after month to give thanks to God for answering their prayers.

“The Bible says, ‘People will go up to Jerusalem, year after year, to celebrate the feast of the tabernacles,’” she said. “And I think that this is a place where people will come year after year for a thanksgiving. I want to tell the church that this is not the last service we are having — you will be coming here month after month to give thanks to the Lord for doing us good.

“When the Lord answers your prayer, you go to give thanks, and we will not do it just once; we will keep coming to this altar that the fathers have laid here today in the State House,” added the first lady.

Tom Osanjo is a Nairobi-based correspondent for Religion Unplugged. He is a former parliamentary reporter and has covered sports, politics and more for Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.