Sheikh Abdallah Kheir, imam and a consultant on contemporary Muslim affairs, said in a telephone interview, “If we are going to open that door, of constructing places of worship there at the State House, that means when a Muslim enters there he will also construct another house of worship, that means a mosque. I don’t think it’s wise to open that door, because in the future, we may not be able to close it.”
Indeed, some Muslim leaders are asking for the construction of a mosque already in response to Rotu’s church plan. “We, too, raise our voices. The State House is a place that welcomes all faiths and we urge him to consider constructing a mosque for the Muslims, too,” said Sheikh Abu Qatada, the chairperson of the Pwani Patriotic Religious Leaders, a group based in Mombasa.
Harrison Mumia, president of the Atheists in Kenya Society, wants the process stopped, accusing the president of promoting Christian nationalism.
“We want to remind the President that Kenya does not belong to Christians only,” Mumia said in a statement sent to RNS. “At its core, the construction of a church at State House threatens the principle of the separation of church and state.”
Other African presidents have engaged in controversial religious projects. Ghana’s former president, Nana Akufo-Addo, championed the construction of a cathedral in thanks for his party’s 2016 electoral wins. Addo pledged $400 million, which he said would be privately funded, according to the BBC, but it has so far cost taxpayers $58 million.
In Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang Guema’s Basilica of Immaculate Conception is the second-largest building in Africa and is styled like St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Guema was criticized for spending on the grand cathedral at the expense of hospitals and schools.
Mobutu Sese Seko, former president of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, constructed the Chapelle de la Miséricorde, a huge worship space, at his private palace in Gbadolite to house the tomb of his wife.
In Algeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika started building the Grand Mosque of Algiers in 2012. Inaugurated in 2024, it is described as the largest in Africa, third largest in the world, and has the tallest minaret in the world.
This article originally appeared here.
