Police in Rwanda have arrested six pastors they accuse of being the “masterminds” behind a plot to defy a government order closing churches.

The suspects allegedly held “illegal meetings with bad intentions” following the closure of more than 700 churches and a mosque in the capital Kigali.
The government says the structures all fail to comply with building regulations and noise pollution laws.
Among those arrested was famous pastor Bishop Rugagi Innocent.
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He was allegedly heard calling the decision to stop the churches from operating “abrupt”, according to the BBC’s Prudent Nsengiyumya.
Rwandan police spokesman Theos Badege told news agency AFP on Tuesday the six Pentecostal preachers “conducted illegal meetings with bad intentions aimed at calling for the directives to be defied”.
“After the suspension of churches that did not meet required standards, some church leaders began illegal meetings intended to defy and obstruct the directive,” he added.
“Police began investigations to find the masterminds behind this illegal act.”

Most of the are churches closed were small Pentecostal ones.
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Pentecostal churches, often run by charismatic preachers claiming to be able to perform miracles, have grown rapidly in many parts of Africa in recent years.
Some are massive, attracting thousands of worshippers each Sunday, but others consist of tiny structures built without planning permission.
A government official told the BBC that some of the more than 700 buildings shut down have already reopened after they were approved by inspectors.
According to a proposed new law, all preachers must have theological training before opening a church.
Government official Justus Kangwagye told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that they simply required the churches to meet “modest standards”.
But President Paul Kagame has publicly questioned the need for the churches.
“Seven hundred churches in Kigali? Are these boreholes that give people water?” he said last Thursday, the East African newspaper reported.




2 COMMENTS

  1. Ghana should be next in line for this type of action. The rampant disregard for the government’s safety regulations and the privacy of people by so-called ‘churches’, has reached detrimental proportions. The total neglect of the peoples’ mental health, privacy, and rights, by the city’s councils, is untenable. The right to association, especially that for purposes of worshipping God, seems to supersede all other concerns. One wonders what the occupants of the council’s offices really do for their work and if they have the development of their localities in mind. And naturally, if they have any substance in those minds.

  2. Can someone tell me what purpose closing of churches will serve. I hope closing a church will not remove poverty neither will it bring money for any economic bail out nor stop corruption or people from stealing state funds nor contribute anything meaningful to the economy. I think it is below the belt. With the exception of some extreme cases that a church violates state law, no matter how evil it becomes it will still pray for the nation, condemn violence and stealing which helps to reform society. In Ghana all the churches both small and big prayed for the election petition and there was a peaceful acceptance of the verdict. The church agreed with the opposition party on the fact that the battle was the lord’s and indeed prayed for peace. In most cases it the small churches that have people who spend more time praying for the state and after peacefully gaining power you turn around to kill them. It is right or wrong? the masses must judge

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