Don’t Blame Satan: Systematic Violations of Press Freedom and Human Rights, and Persecution of The Church in Modern-Day Kenya

The name of Satan will spring to the lips of speakers at political rallies, in churches and faiths-organised events and even private functions convened for charitable causes. Politicians often invoke the name of Satan when things go wrong or when they are not having things their way. When things are going their way, then, they will bask in the limelight and congratulate themselves for the good times as their primed cronies, supporters and sycophants sing their praises. At this time political leaders are declared God-given and God-chosen. They can do no wrong; they are foresighted and they are God-fearing. Let calamity strike, let a man-made misfortune hit the land and the politicians will take the lead and centre-stage in condemning Satan for visiting the tragedy on Kenyans. It is convenient to blame Satan for all evil because Kenyans are taught at home by parents, teachers at Sunday school and by every preacher that Lucifer works to visit misery on God’s people. The irony is that when, for example, the economy is not performing, as is the case now and was the case under former President Daniel arap Moi, the culprit is not Satan. The culprits are the men and women in positions of making and executing policies and the men and women who are tasked with planning for Kenya. Invoking Satan’s name and blaming Satan for politically-instigated violence which negatively impacts the economy and condemning Satan for the high cost of living, shields the culprits from scrutiny and accountability and deflects attention to a universal figure of hate. I therefore submit that Satan is not the source of all our problems. Our leaders and our mentality are the source of our problems. Isaack Omulo Okoth is a 63-year-old Kenyan journalist, who worked for 30 years for The Standard Newspapers in Nairobi, rising from a cub reporter to Senior Associate Editor in charge of Sports Desk. During those years, he travelled around the world covering major competitions like Olympic Games in Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio De Janeiro (2016). He also covered Fifa World Cup in South Africa (2010), World Athletics Championships in Athens (1997) and London (2017), Cricket World Cup in Nairobi in 2003. Mr Okoth filed for major global news agencies and for sports newspapers and magazines. In 2015, he was voted by the Media Council of Kenya’s Annual Journalism Excellence Awards the winner in the sports category. He also wrote Renegade Priests in 2024. He is married with five children.