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The head of the Catholic Church, John Cardinal Njue, stated that he was not aware of Raila Odinga’s claims the Pope had directed the church to return a gift to Archbishop of Kisumu Philip Anyolo by DP William Ruto.
“I am not aware of how the comments came about. I don’t know about claims that the Holy Pope directed the Church to return the gift,” the Cardinal stated.
On his part, Archbishop Anyolo stated that the church had its own channel of communication and they had not received such a directive from Pope Francis.
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Commenting on the car gifted to him by DP Ruto, Archbishop Anyolo stated that it was not for personal use but the property of the diocese.
Proceeds of corruption
"I wish to state that during my installation in January, I received two cars, but they don’t personally belong to me. They are the property of the diocese,” the archbishop said.
He further stated that he was using a Prado V8 bought by the Catholic faithful adding that had not used the one given by the DP since it has not been registered.
Archbishop Anyolo maintained that it was a tough task for the church to establish if some of the gift given by politicians were proceeds of corruption.
"The Catholic Church and any other church I believe has no mechanism to establish that certain gifts are proceeds of corruption," the Kisumu Archbishop stated.
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War of words
On Saturday, Opposition leader Raila Odinga had sensationally claimed that the Catholic church had rejected Ruto's car, which caused a war of words from both their camps.
"The Pope insisted the vehicle be returned. We should stand for the truth. Regrettably, the church entertains such gifts which are offered at the expense of development projects like roads and dams,” Mr Odinga stated.
This did not sit well with Dr Ruto who posted a Tweet seemingly aiming at the AU envoy.
Hugshakes
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"The master of deceit as always is spewing desperate lies. The car gift was bought by Christian leaders including UK and myself at the request of the chair of Catholic MPs. Understandably Empowering the church offends magicians and the evil spirits they worship. Shetani ashindwe!" the DP stated.
Over the past year, the DP and Mr Odinga have treated each other respectfully in public showing a cordial relationship which no seems to be in jeopardy.