Hon. Bishop Margaret Wanjiru: A study in The Power of Unbridled Desire; Unfettered Passion; Unwavering Faith

Mark 11:24

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”.

If you have ever lived in Kenya for any length of time, especially in the last ten years or so, you are very likely familiar with a most beautiful and enigmatic, often controversial lady that we shall simply call Margaret Wanjiru or Bishop Wanjiru in reverence. I say simply, because if we were to refer to her in full as we should, this is what we would have to say each time: Hon. Bishop Dr. Margaret Wanjiru, MP for Starehe Constituency and Assistant Minister for Housing. I daresay quite a mouthful.

Margaret Wanjiru has perennially evoked conflicting emotions in almost everyone whose life she has touched. You either shun and taunt her visibility and grandeur or seek and bask in her magnificence and glory. You either hate her guts or admire her gumption. You either envy and deride her obvious success or laud and get inspiration from her life story. This story of Bishop Wanjiru is a masterpiece, a study in the power of desire and faith; one that any serious student of The Law of Attraction and The Secret cannot ignore. Briefly, Margaret Wanjiru rose from the most humble of beginnings. The circumstances she had to endure before achieving her fame and glory were, to say the least, devastating. For starters, she was lured into an early marriage at the behest of a violent, alcoholic and undiagnosed manic-depressive charcoal seller. His name was Kamangu.

With her education cut short in form three, and saddled with the baggage of motherhood at such a tender age, she went through hell, fire and brimstone right here on earth, before finally calling it quits. That story is replicated in thousands of women all over Kenya and Africa. Sadly though, for many of them, her ending is not.

It took tremendous willpower, unbridled desire coupled with unfettered passion and unwavering tenacity to break out; go on a limb; to rediscover, rebuild and extend to the highest heights of personal achievement. She is still on the go. Make no mistake, no matter what you think of her current numerous titles, this ravishing ageless beauty does not appear to be anywhere near her own achievement finish line yet!

For most Kenyans, her success sort of crept up on us. After all, we weren’t really there during her violence-ridden marriage, for instance. We were not even there when she first stepped into the ministry of Jesus. There is however, one particular happening that we watched unfold, at first with great skepticism and then with profound shock as it unraveled right before our eyes. This occurrence is a study in the power of a burning, ardent desire, the first step to acquiring wealth, riches, abundance and practically anything that you want in your life.
At its conclusion, many of us were left speechless, the significance of its potent message not lost on any of us. It couldn’t be, for it was clear as daylight.


This solitary incident in itself teaches the entire lesson that Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich, laboriously expounded throughout the entire almost 300 pages of his book. Other greats such as Wallace D. Wattles in The Science of Getting Rich, James Allen, As A Man Thinketh; Robin Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari; and David Swartz, The Magic of Thinking Big did the same, as did hundreds of authors and life coaches before and after them. Why, Rhonda Byrne made a movie titled The Secret just to immortalize the concept.

I personally have read more books on the subject than I can recall, and attended countless lectures and seminars, even seeking to be a certified life coach, an engagement that entails plenty of study on this kind of material. I can categorically tell you that nothing I have read tops the poignancy and relevance of this experience, which I, along with millions of Kenyans, witnessed first hand.

So what happened?

Well, about a year before she contested and won the Starehe Constituency parliamentary seat, Bishop Wanjiru was embroiled in a controversy that gripped a nation otherwise bored by an endless thoroughfare of political news. It was as fresh as it was juicy, as rich as it was scandalous. The media fed on it like ravenous hawks discovering an unattended carcass.

Briefly, she had announced her engagement and impending wedding to some obscure pastor said to hail from South Africa. At first someone tried to stir up a stink by sneaking in information involving him in some shady past deals in South Africa, just to muddy the waters. Yet that was not to be the juicy marrow of the tale. Before you could bat an eyelid… Who appears on the scene? Hold it…wait for it…none other than Kamangu, her vitriolic ex husband! Did I say scene? I meant live TV! Watched by millions on all channels, minor and major, Kamangu publicly contested the planned wedding and insisted Wanjiru was still his wife and mother of three or is it four (?) sons (memory fails me). The questions came fast and furious; in pubs, around office water coolers, inside office kitchens, during Women’s Group meetings, at Girls’ Night In/Out Sessions..., name it. Where had he been all these years then? Did he even know what they had been eating or if they went to school and how?

Well, never mind your many questions. The next day, Bishop Wanjiru turned up in as many media outlets as she could to publicly deny any knowledge of the man with “jigger infested hands and feet”. The demon had been awakened. You could tell the mighty queen of ministry was rankled to the core, positively galled and exceedingly disgusted beyond measure.

Not to be outdone, Kamangu made a comeback. This time he was flanked by an acerbic group of vengeful looking men who introduced themselves by the dubious title, Maendeleo Ya Wanaume (Men’s Development Group?). Whoever heard of such a thing? We were willing to bet it had hastily been hashed out and registered in the last 24 hours specifically for this Kamangu/Wanjiru saga! Hmmm... but wait…they were not done. Pretty soon, they even began to don Kamangu in different Armanis and Guccis daily. The man was reclaiming an internationally important Bishop as his wife for heaven’s sake! Gone were the charcoal and chang’aa (illicit alcoholic brew) smelling clothes and in came topflight designer regalia. Were they bought or borrowed from “exhibition stalls” vendors?

We will never know but the look was complete with Ray Ban shades and a gold Rolex, fake or otherwise. The metamorphosis was so absolute it was comical. Its message however, was unmistakable: Kamangu had arrived and the fight was on. It was not a cute one. Rather, it was more like the …no holds barred….take no prisoners…..I sting like a bee kind. Listening to Margaret Wanjiru, it was clear that Jesus had completely been flung through the window. This was no time for “turn the other cheek” or other similar soft tactics.

As Kenya watched the spectacle unfold, things went from scandalous to downright bizarre. At one point, the good Bishop paraded her two (I seem to recall now they were two!) sons and made them declare that they were not the scions of “that man”! The astonishing moment of that cataclysmic action instantly churned the stomachs of our collective African propriety, our sense of decorum. We froze in stunned disbelief, silently wondering as we watched the debacle unfurl; why were they bearing ill wind upon themselves? Didn’t they know it was a curse to deny one’s own father in public? Where would they get “manyasi” to drink, that would be strong enough to drown the destined ruin of the curse? Ironically, both young men and especially the elder son were spitting images of “that man”! Sometimes, God has a wicked sense of humor!

Meanwhile Maendeleo Ya Wanaume and Kamangu filed their case in court demanding amongst other thing, immediate restoration of all sexual rights and privileges! Are you coiling in revulsion yet? Elsewhere the country was divided right down the middle – for and against the two parties. By now it was clear that the Bishop’s wedding would naturally have to be put on hold. It was either that or the groom simply couldn’t face up to the national scandal-ridden heat and preferred to slink back into obscurity.

Not so with Bishop Wanjiru. Amidst all the controversy, she declared her support for the Orange Democratic Party and Raila Odinga for President and promptly announced her candidacy for the Starehe constituency parliamentary seat. She vowed to contest … and win.

She did. Decisively.

Bishop Wanjiru the Form Three Dropout went on to add yet another feather to her cap of titles when she further accepted the position of Assistant Minister for Housing. That is your first lesson in this study of the Power of Unbridled Desire, Unfettered Passion and Unwavering Faith:

“Thoughts Become Things”

Enough said.

Still, that is not the incident that gripped the nation and sent us into a spin, reeling in amazement. The story continues...
A few months later, Bishop Wanjiru bought prime airtime on KTN the popular Kenyan TV station and begun airing a motivational series of sermons. Every Monday night after the news, you could flip through all the channels as much as you liked and still come back to Bishop Wanjiru. She was the only interesting thing to watch on Monday night TV. So you sat up and listened. I remember the sequence of events clearly. For two consecutive Mondays, she spoke about seeking the anointing from God that breaks the yoke of bad luck, witchcraft, the evil designs of your fellow human beings for you, the wicked machinations of jealous colleagues and bosses etc.
She waxed evangelical about how God wants us to achieve the greatest pinnacle of success no matter what challenges we face, but He only satisfies our desires according to our faith. This means that if your faith is small, you will achieve little and vice versa. Her own life was a living testament of this certainty. If you are a student of The Secret and The Law of Attraction you know that this is true even without the biblical references. It is summed up in this principle of The Law of Attraction:

“Think Victory and Succeed
Think Failure and Fail”

Then came Monday the 6th of October 2008. On this night she would challenge us to start a journey with her and declare to God what we wanted to achieve. We were to write it down and collectively give God a period of seven days. In just seven days, everyone who had watched her that night and acted according to her instructions would have their desires translated into reality according to their faith. “Seven days!... seven days!”, she severally pounded on, fervently punctuating her message with great passion and zeal at every step. You could tell she really believed in this power and formula. Her voice resonated. Her point was clear. You have to want something really bad, think about it, pray about it, passionately desire it and want it with fire in your belly. Napoleon Hill suggests that you need to feel this desire at powerful levels akin to those of sexual desire and love. Then you need to believe with all your mind and with all your might that in Jesus’ name, you have received it; and you WILL.

I do not know if any of the millions of people listening carried out her instructions or wrote down anything. I do not even know if any of the viewers ever joined her, in her impassioned and spirit filled prayer at the end of the highly emotive TV sermon. What I can tell you for certain is that the very next day, on the night of October 7th 2008, the announcement blared all over the media; Kamangu had been pronounced dead at about 7pm, at the Kenyatta National Hospital (Ward 7?). He had had one glass too many of the illicit brew that he had imbibed all his life and in the end succumbed to its ravages on his now burnt out liver.

And as morbid as that sounds, beyond the horror of that single stroke of circumstance propelling the chilling announcement, even as the dubious Maendeleo Ya Wanaume group resolutely matched to the funeral and brazenly displayed their “sour grapes” attitude, wringing their hands like angry cartoons, yet refusing to capitulate on the inevitable outcome; even as they mouthed and hurled all manner of insults directed at the absent Bishop; even as they declared affirmations to the contrary; one fact stood tall, its significance impossible to ignore: Honorable Bishop Dr. Margaret Wanjiru, MP for Starehe and Assistant Minister for Housing, was officially and irrefutably…wait for it… single!…She was free!

Case closed.