Reuben Kigame Challenges Kenya to Rethink the Meaning of Christmas 2025

Presidential aspirant and gospel musician Dr Reuben Kigame has issued a strong moral and social challenge to Kenyans, urging them to confront what he calls the “biting realities” behind the celebration of Christmas 2025.

In a reflective article released during the festive season, Kigame questions whether the country’s Christmas celebrations genuinely reflect the life, mission, and values of Jesus Christ, whose birth the holiday commemorates. Drawing from biblical narratives and Kenya’s current socio-political landscape, Kigame argues that Christmas has become heavily commercialized while ignoring the suffering of the most vulnerable.

Dr Kigame highlights what he describes as a deep paradox: the widespread use of Christ’s name in music, branding, and trade, contrasted with a lack of concern for issues Jesus himself identified with, including poverty, injustice, displacement, and oppression. He challenges churches, political leaders, and citizens alike to ask where Jesus would stand if He were present in Kenya today—whether among refugees, informal settlement dwellers, struggling artisans, or victims of gender-based violence.

Referencing the biblical account of Jesus’ birth to a young mother facing crisis circumstances, Kigame points to contemporary challenges such as teenage pregnancies, homelessness, forced evictions, and refugee crises in Kenya and the wider region. He questions how Kenya can celebrate Christmas without reflecting on the plight of families displaced by development projects, residents of informal settlements, or refugees in camps such as Kakuma and Dadaab.

The presidential hopeful also criticizes what he terms the disconnect between festive goodwill and everyday conduct. While hymns proclaim peace and goodwill, he argues, these values often disappear immediately after the holidays, giving way to corruption, domestic violence, injustice, and neglect of mental health and disability concerns.

Dr Kigame further calls out political leadership, questioning policies on taxation, housing, foreign military presence, and healthcare, and likening some of these realities to the oppressive conditions that existed during Roman rule at the time of Jesus’ birth.

“This is not a rejection of Christmas,” Kigame emphasizes, “but a call to dignify the Christ of Christmas.” He urges Kenyans to live out the message of the season throughout the year by pursuing justice, compassion, and dignity for all.

As Kenya looks toward 2026 and the political conversations leading to the 2027 elections, Kigame’s message positions faith, governance, and social responsibility as inseparable. He concludes with a call for reflection rather than routine celebration, wishing Kenyans a meaningful Christmas and a more just new year ahead.