President William Ruto’s administration has moved quickly to respond to the scathing attack by the Catholic bishops as the government embarks on a new communications strategy.

In a well-calculated move, several government institutions have issued statements in a bid to deconstruct allegations by the Church which accused Ruto of what they call a deep-rooted culture of lies, corruption, rights abuses and promises not held.

Sources within the government say there are fears it was these sentiments that sparked the Gen Z protests, which rocked the country in June and July. Ruto then said his communications team had failed to communicate effectively on the 2024 Finance Bill which had collapsed.

On Thursday, at least four government institutions came out to denounce the bishops’ allegations. They were Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa and his Education counterpart Julius Ogamba.

A day later, President Ruto also spoke out on the clergy’s claims, subtly accusing them of lying to the public. He called on all Kenyans to “work together to create a nation that we can all be proud of”.

“Even as we engage in public debate on issues that are important to the Kenyan people, we must be careful to provide factual information, lest we become victims of the things we accuse others of doing,” Ruto said.

Catholic bishops have accused the government of brutality in the face of criticism, lying to citizens and perpetuating rights violations, including kidnappings and extrajudicial killings.

Led by the Kenya Catholic Bishops’ Conference, they also criticized the Social Health Authority, saying it had failed to address the problems of hospitals, including those owned by the Church. In its response, the government slammed the bishops, calling their claims “misleading, erroneous and false.”

The Ministries of Education and Health detailed the progress being made to address Kenyans’ concerns. It is understood that government action is based on the belief that such sentiments have built the momentum for Gen Z protests.

Experts control the state and its mechanisms cannot wait quietly for a storm to arise and should leave nothing to chance.

Political commentator Javas Bigambo told the Star that the state is sensitive to sentiments such as “the Church remains an integral part of the country’s body politic should therefore not appear to be fanning the fires.

“Religious leaders must be careful not to fan fires reminiscent of the 2007 general election campaigns and how they did more politics than respective teachings of their faith,” he said.

State officials appear willing to counter any information they believe to be false, as evidenced by statements and posts on their social media platforms.

It is further understood that the big plot is to ensure that the public perception war is settled immediately to tackle the “obvious dissatisfaction of various Kenyans with the government’s performance”.

On Friday, government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura responded in quick succession to the attacks on the Kenyan Kwanza administration.

“We wish to respond respectfully to each point raised (by the bishops), affirming our commitment to transparency, accountability and the well-being of all citizens,” he said.

Mwaura addressed accusations of corruption, human rights and freedom of expression, pending NHIF bills, term limits bill, taxation, education funding as well as youth unemployment. He also expressed his concerns regarding delay in reconstituting the IEBC and economic outlook.

On corruption, Mwaura said the government had proposed laws to strengthen the fight against corruption and anti-corruption agencies were on alert to intercept corruption schemes.

He said the Kenya Kwanza administration wanted to strengthen the powers of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission as well as its budget.

Mwaura said the government had no intention of facilitating the passage of legislation extending the term of office of elected leaders.

This was in response to claims by clergy over Senator Nandi Samson Cherargey’s bill to increase the president’s term to seven years from the current five years.

The government also pledged to settle among others the outstanding NHIF bills which were part of the clergy’s laments. On taxation, Mwaura said the government was committed to taking steps to ease the tax burden on Kenyans.

“The government is working on reforms to make the tax system fair while meeting the national development agenda,” he said.

On youth employment, the state claims to have provided more than 105,000 Kenyans with employment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Bahrain.

Mwaura said more than 160,000 youths had also secured employment in affordable housing projects and another 149,000 job opportunities online.

He also said the President had no intention of delaying the reconstitution of the IEBC, arguing that the delays were due to a dispute between the representative political parties.

CS Barasa said the government had disbursed more than Sh5 billion, including Sh938 million to health facilities owned by, among others, the Catholic Church.

She said the government would disburse an additional Sh2.5 billion next week, further pledging to settle all outstanding debts of the NHIF.

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot also waded into the debate, saying “clergy must avoid being purveyors of propaganda, fake news and lies.”

For Senator Kericho, the clergy were involved in a political project, apparently by Kenya Kwanza rivals.

“I urge the Church to avoid being drawn into a project to destroy our institutions by scandalizing them with disinformation, a widespread practice on our social networks,” Cheruiyot said.

He said it was “unfortunate that religious leaders are resorting to sweeping generalizations,” in reference to clergy criticism of the term limits bill.

“If they have a problem with a particular leader, they should seek redress from the relevant constitutional agencies instead of condemning the entire legislature,” the senator said.

CS Ogamba also dismissed claims by the bishops that the competency-based curriculum was collapsing, as well as challenges with the new university funding model. He said the government had constructed 16,000 classrooms for Grade 9 and Sh17.6 billion had been released to complete the classrooms by December.

IGP Kanja said investigations were underway to establish whether there was any police complicity in the Gen Z protest deaths. He said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations was closing in on many cases of kidnappings and that “agents were making good progress.”