Kenya is sick from poverty and corruption, says Catholic Church

Catholic Bishops Cornellius Korir(left) flanked by Philip Anyollo during a press conference in Nairobi.08/04/2016. Photo by WILLIS AWANDU

A week after President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a State of the Nation address painting a rosy picture of the country’s achievements, the economy and infrastructure, the Catholic Church has responded with a gloomy report card about runaway corruption, incompetent institutions and a country that appears to be morally dead.

In the words of the 26 bishops, the country is “sick”. And the clergy cautioned that even with the collapse of the case at the International Criminal Court (ICC), “there are no winners or losers”. “As Catholic Bishops, we see the ruling, not as an outcome of winners and losers. The outcome of the ruling does not resolve the pain of the violence as the trauma of the post-election violence has not been healed,” said the bishops in a statement read by Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) Chair Rev Philip Anyolo.

Thousands neglected

The Catholic Church repeated the reminder that the plight of post-elections victims had not been addressed. They cautioned that if the issue is not addressed, the country faces grave “danger” as it hurtles towards the next General Election.

The clergy, including John Cardinal Njue — the head of the Catholic Church in Kenya—asked that celebrations over the recent ICC ruling that freed Deputy President William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang be tempered.

The bishops said the State had neglected the thousands left homeless by the 2007/2008 chaos: “Our appeal to the national and county governments is to offer solutions for the victims, through compensations and plans of reconciliation and integration.”

In a statement that took an hour and three bishops to put across, the underlying message of the clergy was that Kenya was sinking yet Jubilee seems to have a different opinion.

The men of God cited corruption as the cause of rot in government institutions, mainly the Judiciary, Independent Electoral Boundary Commission (IEBC) and the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec). “Elections is one of the most important activities of the country and when the IEBC is riddled with corruption and incompetence, then our democracy and future growth is in danger,” read the statement.

Apart from calling for the sacking of Knec officials implicated in exam cheating, the bishops questioned if the judicial system could be trusted on the back of  numerous allegations of corruption that have been levelled against some judges of the Supreme Court.

They said ordinary Kenyans have been left to bear the cost of corruption, with many wallowing in poverty and with no access to medical facilities. They lamented that schools did not have enough teachers while the youth cannot get jobs as they have to pay kickbacks to be considered by senior officers.

The bishops warned politicians, whom they described as ‘gods’ of corruption, that they would not be allowed to   make churches campaign venues where they used foul language.  They said churches would not be used to hide   looted funds,  particularly during fund-raisings.

The said politicians had promoted ethnicity through the creation of tribal voting blocs.

Counties were also criticised for promoting  tribalism.

They looped in the police, whose corruption exposed the country to terror threats.

“This is clearly obvious with the bribes exchanged at police check points. Our borders are not secure, and our roads are mere collection points for bribes,” said the bishops.

They observed that the place of religion had been sidelined in school, contributing to moral decadence.

The bishops took to the platform to explain Pope Francis’ message on the Church’s tolerance to immorality in society. “The Pope did not mean that the Church should condone gays and other immoral practices but to love them as they needed compassion,” said KCCB Chair Anyolo.