In a society where the pulpit still carries significant authority, Simon Kitusawa’s decision stands out as both unusual and unsettling. The former preacher from Ndalani in Machakos County did not simply step back from ministry. He publicly tore up his ministerial robes, declared that organised religion is a form of slavery, and chose a completely different path.
Today, Kitusawa works as a Natural medicine practitioner. In his view, the years he devoted to religious service were years that could have been spent building a more practical and independent life. He argues that religion, as commonly practised, often traps people in systems of control, fear and dependency that discourage critical thinking and personal progress.
Separating God from the institution
At the centre of Kitusawa’s message is a clear distinction. He insists that God and religion are not the same thing. Faith in a higher power, he maintains, does not require intermediary structures, rigid doctrines or the constant demand for submission that many religious institutions enforce. By drawing this line, he challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions in Kenyan life: that spirituality must be mediated through organised religion.
This is not the critique of an outsider. Kitusawa speaks as someone who once stood firmly inside the system. He lived the life of a preacher, experienced its demands, and eventually concluded that the institution itself had become a barrier rather than a bridge. His rejection therefore carries a particular weight. It is grounded in personal experience rather than abstract theory.
Why his messages resonates
Kenya remains a deeply religious society. Churches and religious leaders continue to shape public conversation, personal decisions and community life. At the same time, recent years have exposed troubling cases of excess, manipulation and abuse within some religious spaces. In that context, voices such as Kitusawa’s find an audience, even if it remains a minority one.
His story adds a human dimension to a wider and often uncomfortable conversation. It raises questions about how much of what people call faith is shaped by habit, social pressure or fear of stepping outside accepted norms. It also asks whether the years spent in full devotion to religious structures always deliver the personal growth that people hope for.
A necessary challenge
Kitusawa’s deconstruction of religion is not loud activism. It is a lived decision. He has rejected the symbols, expectations and authority of the institution while still affirming the possibility of a direct relationship with God. In a country where religious language saturates daily life, that distinction feels almost radical.
Critics may see his actions as extreme or misguided. Supporters view them as a necessary reclaiming of personal freedom. Either way, his choice forces a conversation that is rarely held openly: the possibility that true spiritual and personal freedom might sometimes begin where organised religion ends.
Simon Kitusawa has not merely left the pulpit. He has tested the system that once defined him and chosen a different measure of a meaningful life. In doing so, he holds up a mirror that many would prefer not to look into..and that is precisely why his story continues to unsettle and provoke.
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