When Mr. George Kinyua arrived in Stockholm after Julius Mwandembo was recalle
d, Kenyans here did not know what to expect because Kinyua appeared a very quiet dude. Obviously, he must have been updated about problems in Stockholm with Wakenya and probably advised to take things easy.
Once he understood the Kenya-Stockholm terrain, Mr. Kinyua decided to employ a unique formula, not just to reach Wakenya but also to survive. As per tradition, Mwandembo, his predecessor, took him through the routines of introduction in Stockholm, Embassy staff filled in the gaps while he also began to make his own perceptions. When he eventually settled down for business, he went for the setting up of a Church in Stockholm which he would use as a base for inter-personal operations.
Kinyua linked up with Pastor Samson, a Kenyan, together with other Kenyans who believe in Jesus Christ as their personal savior like Jamlik Muritu to set up what became known as “Outreach Ministries” aka Bagarmossen Church.
It is still not clear why Mr. Kinyua did not join other established churches with Kenyan presence like St Klara Church although some Kenyans have theorized that the Kenyan or East African wing of St Klara Church was under the control of Pastor Beatrice Kamau who did not agree with the Embassy on several issues.
If Kinyua was to join St Klara, his membership could have complicated the situation for the Embassy because of the difficulty of reconciling his diplomatic duties with religious connections at a church where an anti-Embassy personality like Pastor Beatrice was the dominant force.
As he went about looking for ways of fitting in Stockholm, Kinyua discovered that there was a small grouping of Kenyan Christians who did not belong to the mainstream church groups but who were interested in setting up a Church of their own. Part of their isolation was that they either did not agree with the leaders of the existing groups or differed with their methods of preaching the gospel.
Apart from Pastor Beatrice who was leading St Klara Church, another Kenyan who was deeply in Church business was Elizabeth Nyaore who was running a church in Märsta. However, Kinyua decided to ignore Elizabeth to go for something pretty independent.
Within a short time, the Outreach Ministy began to expand and to spread its tentacles among Kenyan Wafarisai. It attracted the attention of a section of Kenyan Wafarisai as the new church embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive never witnessed in Stockholm before.
The new church gained the name “Bagarmossen church” because it was located at a venue at Bagarmossen centrum. Fresh Kenyan Christians who had never been seen before like Mr. Muraya soon surfaced at the church as other countrymen like Ole Ngais also joined in. Paparazzi Keegan Kaagwe found the sermons interesting and hooked up as did Kenyans like Lissa and Mary Mwangi, Naomi Mambui who all became members. By virtue of her husband’s job at the Embassy as First secretary, Mrs Catherine Kiboi became one of the most high profile Kenyans to join the new church. However, things were not all rosy.
PROBLEMS
The establishment of Bagarmossen church created some ripples because some members of St Klara and other churches began to defect to the new church which suddenly began to offer competition to St Klara church.
Key preachers at the new church were Kinyua, Pastor Samson and Brother Jamlik Muritu who mesmerized the crown with emotional sermons of different wave lengths. As news hit Stockholm that an Embassy official had set up a church in Stockholm, trouble began to surface.
Kinyua was not just preaching at Bagarmossen church. He was also attending the Church in his diplomatic car. Opponents of the government began to generate propaganda to the effect that government funds were being used by a Kenyan diplomat to prop up a Church at Bagarmossen.
There was no evidence to support the allegation but according to the propagandists, Kinyua had not just set up a church but was also using a government car to ferry potential candidates to the church to be recruited in a moment of halelujah. For critics, the question of a government car being used on a Sunday for a private mission amounted to misuse of public funds.
The appearance of Mr. Kinyua as a preacher at the Bagarmossen pulpit only lent credence to the perception that the setting up of the church was a well choreographed operation by the Kenyan Embassy to try and build a crowd it could rely on for support amid attacks from opposition elements that the government of the day was corrupt and needed to be overthrown. In deed, many Kenyans could not understand how a newly posted diplomat could suddenly decide to set up a church from nowhere.
As criticisms increased, Kinyua decided to change strategy. He stopped preaching at the pulpit but continued being a member of the church. Instead, Pastor Samson took a much more higher profile to appear as though he was the one in charge and not Kinyua.
As he was retreating from open preaching, Kinyua also began to attend Kenyan functions, probably to fight off charges that he was partisan and only attending functions of Bagarmossen Church members. The diplomat began to understand the petty politics in Stockholm and consequently, began to represent the Embassy at various functions and this new strategy paid off because perception of Kinyua also began to change.
Kinyua was posted at the Embassy during the “blog age” and whenever there was a crisis that required Embassy attention, he is the officer who was in charge of the heat. A tactic which worked is that he never shied away from answering phone calls. Even if it was clear that he was not giving any internal information, he tried to maintain a phone call as long as it took with long winding answers. In this way, he avoided ready charges that he was unavailable or did not want to take up questions during times of crisis.
TRANSFER TO CANADA
However, an event that led to the acceptance of Kinyua as a diplomat that was out to reach out to Wakenya was when Juliet Kavinga was murdered in Stockholm. A Committee was set up by Kenyans to oversee the Juliet case on behalf of Kenyans but what Kinyua did is that he made sure that the Embassy was deeply involved in the Kavinga case.
In the spirit of “opening the Embassy” Kinyua allowed the Kavinga committee to hold a meeting at the Board room at the Embassy, a new development that suggested that the Embassy was opening up to Wakenya. Kinyua also had with him a file the Embassy had opened in the Kavinga case and gave certain details of the case that helped the Kavinga committee to follow the case. To crown it all, Kinyua was the main speaker who represented the government during the Memorial service of Kavinga that was held at St Klara church.
Apart from the Kavinga case, Kinyua used to attend court cases involving Kenyans who landed on the wrong side of the law. This was important in fighting attacks that the Embassy was less concerned with Kenyans who were facing criminal charges.
The diplomat became so liberal that although he was a Christian, he used to attend Kenyan parties to articulate Embassy policy. The last party he attended was at Norsborg where Kesofo had called a “Unity Party”.
Things appeared to have been going on well for Kinyua then suddenly, KSB got news that he was facing a transfer to Canada on a promotion. This installment is long and will be continued.
Okoth Osewe
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