Did President Uhuru Kenyatta make it rain in Nyeri?

Nyeri residents disperse from President Uhuru Kenyatta'a meeting after a heavy downpour pounded the area on January 20, 2017. Photo | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • When the crowd asked the president to pray for them, the head of state caused laughter saying that he is a politician and not a pastor.
  • After he prayed, it poured heavily.
  • Social media was abuzz with praise for Mr Kenyatta for making an effectual prayer. Others said it was just a coincidence.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s voter registration drive in central Kenya was disrupted in Nyeri after heavy rains pounded the region when he started to address a crowd on Friday.

Pushed by the crowd to pray, the president started his meeting with a short prayer – in Kikuyu - asking God to bless the community with rainfall.

When the crowd asked the president to pray for them, the head of state caused laughter saying that he is a politician and not a pastor.

“What I do best is politics,” he said. But the crowd was unrelenting.

He agreed.

“Our God we pray for peace in our country, give us rains so that our animals have something to eat. We pray for a good harvest in our farms and growth in our country. We pray for victory,” the president prayed in Kikuyu.

Minutes later, it poured heavily though dark clouds had already gathered before the meeting started.

Following the rains, the president’s team cancelled a rally scheduled at Kiganjo.

Social media was abuzz with praise for Mr Kenyatta for making an effectual prayer. Others said it was just a coincidence.

Laban Thuo, a Facebook user, posted, “His Excellency the President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, just like our respectable distinguished fore-fathers and elders prayed for our nation in Nyeri for rain and it really rained. That's a sign!!!! For better things ahead."

Other termed him a prophet “Believe me our president is not only a leader but a prophet, after he prayed for rain in Nyeri, a few minutes later it rained,” Doreen Magambo said.

“This means a lot. If our President could land in Nyeri and the Lord answers his prayer even before he leaves the place, I can only imagine what would happen to this country if he called for a day of prayer and fasting and he led it himself,” Catherine Kabiri posted.

The two-hour downpour led to clogging of the drainage system in some parts of the lower while roofs in some buildings leaked.

Various parts of the country are experiencing a long dry spell that has lead to biting drought.