President Kagame of Rwanda has indicated that churches may be required to pay taxes on their collections

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has expressed his intention to implement a tax on church collections in order to address the extortion and exploitative behavior of evangelical clerics.

In his inaugural address following his recent oath of office, the Rwandan president harshly criticized church leaders who use the name of God to manipulate and “squeeze money” from individuals.

“These unscrupulous individuals who exploit religion and churches to defraud individuals of their money and other assets will compel us to implement a tax, requiring churches to pay a tax on the funds they receive from individuals,” he stated.

This week, Rwandan authorities announced that approximately 8,000 churches had been closed due to their failure to comply with infrastructural standards and their illicit operations.

Mr. Kagame declared that he would pursue additional rogue pastors and their congregations after presiding over the swearing-in ceremony of the re-appointed Prime Minister, Edouard Ngirente, and new members of parliament.

The impoverished are the primary focus

Mr. Kagame stated, “If the truth be told, these mushrooming churches are merely there to extract every penny from impoverished Rwandans, as their owners enrich themselves.”

In recent years, Rwanda has witnessed a rise in the number of Pentecostal congregations, many of which are founded on the principles of prosperity gospel, which has attracted a greater number of impoverished individuals. “We have observed instances in which these cult leaders have even led individuals to their deaths by manipulating and brainwashing them to starve to death and engage in a variety of other activities. This has occurred in other countries.”

Rwanda is not the only country that has encountered difficulties in regulating evangelists. Uganda announced last week that it will publish a white paper on the regulation of worship in response to allegations of extortion by clerics.

Paul Mackenzie and his adherents are presently being tried in Kenya for allegedly brainwashing devotees into deadly fasting.

Some 59.3 percent of the more than 13,000 churches that were inspected in the past month have been closed due to non-compliance, according to the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), the regulatory body for religious organizations.

“The closure of these places of worship was a result of routine inspections conducted in accordance with our mandate. We had provided these churches with ample time to improve, but they failed to do so, necessitating their closure,” stated Usta Kaitesi, the CEO of RGB.