The presidential taskforce on Shakahola deaths has recommended the setting up of an office of the Registrar of Religious Organisations to improve reporting mechanisms and enforcement measures.
According to the taskforce, effective reporting facilitates timely interventions by relevant agencies hence helping to prevent potential harm and championing the welfare of society.
A report presented to President William Ruto on Tuesday states that the office will play a crucial role in helping to curtail religious extremism, cultic or occultist beliefs and practices in the country.
“It is, therefore, necessary to craft and implement effective reporting mechanisms across all governmental levels,” it states.
The Taskforce was established to identify the legal, institutional and governance challenges that could lead to the growth of religious extremist organisations, sects and cults, and make proposals to prevent such entities from actions that are detrimental to public health and safety and national values.
The team chaired by Mutava Musymi traveled across the country to collect views from Kenyans and other stakeholders.
“The proposed office will develop and operationalise an integrated and technologically enabled mode of reporting. This will include dedicated toll-free helplines, social media platforms, online platforms, and web/mobile applications,” it reads.
The team is also rooting for the creation of the Religious Affairs Commission to regulate religious content in the media in consultation with the Communications Authority, security agencies and religious institutions.
It has developed the Draft Religious Organisations Bill 2024 and the Draft Religious Organisations Policy that will help anchor and institutionalise the recommendations of the report.
The recommendations, the report says, are meant to safeguard and protect the freedom of religion and mitigate the potential abuse to inflict harm on Kenyans.
The report adopts a hybrid regulatory model of self-regulation and government oversight in addition to an amendment to the Kenya Information and Communication Act.
Other proposals include the need to revise the basic education curriculum to strengthen religious tolerance, caution the public against religious extremism and relook at civic education materials on the rights and responsibilities of religious organisations and citizens.
This is in addition to the creation of offences committed in the name or under the pretext of religion in the proposed Bill.
“The Registrar of Religious Organisations should be empowered under the proposed Religious Organisations Bill to deregister and publicise names of individuals and groups linked to religious extremism, cultic, and occultism practice,” Musyimi said.
