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Former Moderator of PCEA The very Rev. Dr Jesse Kamau coming to Minister in London next month. Details to follow soon.
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Presbyterian Church of East Africa - UK Outreach.
Kenyan church leaders lament their lack of unity in political crisis
ENI-08-0097
By Fredrick Nzwili
Nairobi, 5 February (ENI)--Some Christian leaders in Kenya have
commented on what they say is the inability of the country's churches to
speak with one voice about the violence that has followed disputed
presidential election results, and which has led to the deaths of around
1000 people.
"I want to express my concern; we don't seem to be speaking in one voice
at this critical time," Anglican Bishop Gideon Ireri of Mbeere in
eastern Kenya told Ecumenical News International on 5 February.
The violence in the east African country broke out after the 27 December
presidential elections in which incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was
declared the winner but which opposition leader Raila Odinga says were
rigged.
Some observers have attributed the lack of a united church voice since
then to heightened ethnic divisions in the country, something about
which church leaders warned before the election.
On 3 February, about 30 Catholic priests in the Homa Bay diocese, a
region where the opposition leader Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement
has mass support, were reported as saying that they feared being
targeted because of statements by the national Catholic leadership.
The Daily Nation newspaper reported that the priests had pointed to a
statement by Cardinal John Njue in which he opposed the plans for a
federal arrangement for Kenya favoured by the Orange Democratic
Movement. The priests said the cardinal's statement was seen as the
church's endorsement of the government, although the cardinal also
advised the faithful to use their discretion in picking leaders.
A World Council of Churches fact-finding delegation to Kenya said on 5
February that government and opposition parties had reacted coolly to
its proposal that the Kenyan churches should be full partners in the
mediation process.
The delegation said that political leaders had expressed disappointment
about the role of the churches, and had asserted that the churches had
taken "partisan" positions during the election process and needed to
"heal themselves first".
The WCC group said the general secretary of the National Council of
Churches of Kenya, the Rev. Peter Karanja, had acknowledged
embarrassment about this situation amongst church leaders, though he had
also noted that the churches were "united in their call for peace and
reconciliation".
As an example of this, Karanja told the WCC visitors, a memorial service
had been scheduled for 15 February for the victims of an incident in
Eldoret, where a church sheltering hundreds of people mainly from the
Kikuyu tribe was torched, leaving a reported 35 people dead.
The NCCK leader has said that bishops from the two tribes involved in
the violence would take part in the memorial service.
"Churches will be conducting joint fellowship meetings where members of
the clergy from different ethnic groups may be perceived to have
unconsciously taken sides," Karanja told ENI on 5 February. "The results
will start to be seen soon. We cannot afford not to speak in one voice."
Still, he said it was not "alarming" that clergy may have taken a
particular position as individuals and as citizens.
Anglican Bishop Eliud Wabukala of Bungoma said the clergy were called to
respond to a "high calling" but that at times they may not be able to do
this because of concerns for safety.
"We have never seen anything like this before," said Wabukala. "Priests
may need to read the prevailing circumstances and make a judgement."
[575 words]
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