A bitter power struggle has erupted at the highest levels of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA), exposing deep fractures within the clergy over a multi-million-shilling debt and a contentious plan to seek financial relief from State House.
In two contradicting internal memos issued on Friday, August 28, 2026, the church’s top two administrators – General Assembly Moderator Rt. Rev. Thegu Mutahi and Secretary General Rev. Dr. Robert Waihenya starkly clashed over political independence, ethics, and the fate of the church’s prime Mombasa property, the Milele Beach Hotel.
The brewing civil war centres on the church’s desperate effort to clear a crushing debt.
The hotel’s loan liabilities, which once topped KSh 1.1 billion, were recently negotiated down to KSh 753 million following initial state-facilitated interventions with creditors.
After making a down payment of KSh 50 million, PCEA now faces a tight three-month deadline to raise the remaining KSh 703 million balance or risk losing the strategic coastal asset.
In a memo addressed to all presbytery clerks, Secretary General Rev. Dr. Robert Waihenya declared that the church’s Business Committee had formally resolved under Minute 5359 to pursue state support.
He confirmed that President William Ruto had granted PCEA an audience scheduled for October 2, 2026, to discuss the hotel’s debt redemption plan.
Categorically defending the scheduled delegation, Waihenya framed the planned State House visit as a strictly “administrative visit” to the Head of State aimed at ending the “shame and politics” shrouding the facility’s debt.
He emphasized that attendance for church ministers would be voluntary and without coercion.
However, in a scathing counter-statement issued on the same day, Moderator Rt. Rev. Thegu Mutahi disowned the visit entirely, dealing a swift public blow to his Secretary General.
Warning against what he termed a violation of “political hygiene,” Rev. Mutahi assured members that PCEA would strictly guard its identity as an independent and non-partisan institution.
He insisted the church would not compromise its doctrines or its moral duty to “speak truth to power” in exchange for financial bailouts.
“For the avoidance of doubt, PCEA is not organizing, sponsoring, or endorsing any delegation to visit any politician to seek financial favors or political patronage, whether at State House or anywhere else,” Mutahi declared, directly refuting the Secretary General’s position.
The public fallout comes amid growing political controversy and a viral video clip showing clergy appealing to church members for funds while battling rumours of political deal-making.
State House aides have since issued statements maintaining that it was the church that initially approached the President for help to save the hotel, claiming over 350 clergy members have already confirmed attendance for the October meeting.
As the three-month ultimatum from financial lenders ticks away, the open war between the Moderator and the Secretary General leaves millions of PCEA faithful caught in the middle wondering whether their leadership will save their prized asset through political intervention or uphold its doctrinal wall of separation.
