Sacred swindle: Inside the gospel of greed on Kenya's airwaves

From its headquarters at K-Mall just a hundred metres off Kangundo Road, “Prophet” David Maina, whose aliases include Karuru or Kagechu, presides over an empire of faith and fraud.

Through stations such as Jawabu Television, Madhabahu TV, Yahweh's TV, and Shahada TV, Mr Maina's media group blends gospel with gambling, promising viewers instant cash rewards in exchange for mobile money transfers. What looks like divine intervention is, in fact, a deeply orchestrated con job with thousands of unsuspecting viewers as victims.

An investigation by Nation has unearthed what insiders are calling a well-oiled con game. At the heart of it: televised games of chance disguised as religious charity.

Whistleblowers from within Mr Maina's camp, including employees, describe a sinister operation that preys on Kenya's poorest and most desperate. The masterminds use emotional manipulation, technical deceit, and religious influence to drain money from households across the country.

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Under the guise of gospel TV, programmes are interrupted by presenters whose identities are concealed. They invite viewers to "win blessings" by sending small amounts of money.

Unknown to the viewers, the draw is rigged.

"Nobody wins. It's just a scam. We manufacture fake winners, and the real money is withdrawn immediately,” one whistleblower said.

In secret recordings of the operations of these religious stations obtained by the Nation, presenters mock their victims while off-air.

One laughs, calling it "wizi ninakufunza" (I'm teaching you theft).

Another one then boasts: "These are the hours we make money", an admission that these presenters are well aware of the pain they inflict. Their confidence is bolstered by years of impunity and a regulatory vacuum that has allowed such schemes to flourish.

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This investigation found that once victims send their initial bets of between Sh10- Sh50, they are baited to send more to outbid imaginary competitors with names of supposed winners being fabricated.

Viewers are pushed into an endless loop of hope and loss. The more they send, the more they’re encouraged to send, based on the false promise that they are "so close to winning."

Ruth Wanjiku, an elderly woman from Kikuyu, is one such victim. Sick at home and drawn in by the promise of sending Sh10 to win Sh10,000, she lost over Sh6,000 in less than an hour.

"They called my name out, and told me to send more to win. I kept playing. I was the only one playing,” she recalled.

Her story is echoed by many others, some too ashamed to speak out.

Joseph Ng'ang'a, a widower, gambled away his children’s school fees. The man had set aside some money to send his children back to school but it ended up lining the pockets of scammers using the holy writs as their shield.

"I just wanted to win Sh40,000 but I ended up with nothing,” he said.

These antics, whistleblowers confirmed, are by design, curated with the most heinous of intentions by people under the watch of the man of God.

“The company has no intention of awarding real prizes. Even employees are used as fake winners. No one gets anything," one source confessed, describing how they were made to act as participants and winners during live broadcasts.

The TV presenters operate with chilling precision. Their targets: are vulnerable, low-income viewers with limited access to streaming platforms. The strategy is simple- hook them with dubbed action movies and insert gambling breaks promising fast money. The presenters use emotional manipulation, invoking sickness, school fees, and faith to trap viewers into an emotional spiral.

"If you have a sick child, just send Sh50 and you will win Sh50,000,” one presenter was recorded saying.

Such lines are scripted to hit where it hurts most. In a society grappling with high unemployment, rising inflation, and economic desperation, these messages find fertile ground.

Regulatory bodies, including the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) and the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), have been slow to act.

BCLB boss Peter Mbugi admits Yahweh’s Media Services holds no gambling licence adding it is not permitted to conduct any form of gambling. However, their ever-changing tricks to avoid the law have frustrated the board.

Read:How radio stations are luring elderly parents into the cesspit of gambling

“The issue is that they transform themselves into different things. Some of them are saying, you know you have a pay bill for prayers, you send money for prayers, and then you are told, this is a prayer for the husband. This Sh50 is for prayers…You see, that now, is not gambling.  So, you will see the pay bills on the TVs, but they are telling you to send it for prayers. Maybe it is a change of tact or something else.  Some of them do that. And some of them will tell you it's a prize," he said.

Secret recordings reveal Prophet Maina himself coaching staff on how to avoid detection and extract maximum cash. He warns employees to stop showing their faces on TV.

In another recording, he bragged that his stations once made Sh1.1 million in a single day from viewers’ bets.

"December was easy. We were getting Sh600,000 daily,” he said adding that all of them have the capability of executing the scam.

Here is part of a transcript of what he said in the recording verbatim where Mr Maina even prayed and committed the theft to God.

“Nikiwaangalia you are still young. Mungu awapee nguvu, awaongoze maarifa…Kumaanisha ya kwamba hakuna tv haiwezi perform, yule kijana alikuwa producer alikuwa anaitwa nani? Mwenye alipiga 165,000… Kinoti, ilikuwa tu ni siku ya kawaida tu, presenter amechelewa hajakuja, Kinoti alikuwa ashasema anataka kuwa presenter, akaingia na akafanya, alipata Sh165, 000, na wakati huo kuko kama sahii. So ni kumaanisha there is nobody who cannot perform, kwa kuwa alikuwa amesikiza presenter vile alikuwa anaongea, akapata the knowledge of the same,” he said.

(Looking at you, you are still young…May God give you strength and add you knowledge. This means there is no TV that cannot perform, there is that young man who was a producer, but I cannot recall his name. He made Sh165,000. Yes, Kinoti (the name), it was a normal day when the presenter had delayed. Kinoti had expressed a desire to be a presenter and he did the job. He made Sh165,000. This means there is nobody who cannot perform because he had listened to how the presenter spoke and got the knowledge of the same).

Despite these revelations, Maina continues to seek favour from the highest offices. A leaked draft letter addressed to President William Ruto requests a presidential waiver on a Sh19 million debt owed to Signet, Kenya’s public broadcast signal distributor.

The letter, disguised in charity-speak, claims to employ 150 youth and rehabilitate street children, with Mr Maina pleading that "we only wish to continue doing good”.

Yet the only thing spreading is the fraud. The scale of deception is massive. Mobile money transaction logs, reviewed by the Nation, reveal hundreds of small transactions and not even one, rewarded.

Counted in isolation, the amounts may seem insignificant- it is Sh50 here, another Sh100 there, but collectively, they amount to tens of millions. It is death by a thousand cuts.

For many victims, the shame is as profound as the loss.

"I never thought I would fall for such a thing but they made it sound so real. They used my name. They knew my struggle…I only have God, only God will fight for me," Ruth said.

The whistleblowers, some of whom still work at the stations, said they were motivated by guilt and a desire for justice.

"What if my mother in the village fell for this? Wouldn’t I want someone to stop it?” one posed.

Currently, no TV station should run any gambling advert or programme until the end of May after the BCLB ordered a 30-day halt to all TV gambling in April. Despite this, Yahweh’s Media Services defied the directive.

When flagged, they pivoted to a new lie, claiming to offer "lending services" instead of games of chance, their bait-and-switch tactic, designed to stay one step ahead of the law.

Gospel singer Ben Githae, who hosts “Ben Githae Live” across these stations every Sunday, is a major draw for viewers.  He’s not just a celebrated musician; he’s a household name who once shaped national politics as the musical voice behind President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election in 2017. His name brings in viewers, who stay for the sermons, and later on, the scams.

Though Mr Githae may not be directly implicated, his presence lends legitimacy to this toxic enterprise.

The Nation inquired about his continued involvement and whether he was in the know about the fraud schemes run by the network. He denied any knowledge of the scams saying he is “just an employee” who does not deal with the company’s operations. However, his silence on the matter is deafening.

On his part, Mr Maina declined repeated interview requests, issuing legal threats instead. On May 16, the first call was placed but yielded no comment from him. On May 19, the man of the cloak received a phone call and was informed about what the Nation had been informed. Instead of responding, he said we would hear from his lawyers should the story be published or aired.

At some point, he questioned Nation Media Group’s (NMG) temerity to “question another media house which was also licensed by the CA just like NMG”.

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A day later, the Nation team visited Yahweh’s offices at K-Mall to submit a letter with questions on their operations. The “Prophet”, the employees present at the studios said, was not present and instead said a man called Erick was in charge.

Despite requests by the Nation for Erick to stamp the letters as “received” for proof that they accepted the letter, they declined until another employee, identified as Charles showed up visibly agitated.

Eventually, Charles took the letter but refused to stamp it saying, “I can only stamp it after reading through its contents and understanding what I am receiving.”

Without the stamp showing receipt of the letter, a digital copy of the same was sent to Mr Maina, who replied after a few minutes of going through the letter.

“You will get a response from my lawyer regarding your letter…My lawyer will use her wisdom on when to respond,” he texted.

When the Nation thanked him for acknowledging receipt of the letter and responding, the unthinkable happened, the “Prophet” deleted his messages leaving a one-sided chat.

When contacted for comment on the operations of Yahweh, CA Director General, David Mugonyi, told the Nation to submit names of the offending stations for action. The list was sent.

As of publication, no formal action had been confirmed, proof that regulatory inertia continues to embolden the perpetrators.

The gospel meant to edify and uplift, has now been hijacked and monetised through a get-rich-quick scheme.

Unless something changes, the sacred swindle will continue-one mobile transfer at a time.

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