Dignify Our Lives – Nairobi Regional Conference

Dignify Our Lives

Press Statement

Preamble

The 14^th Nairobi Regional Conference has been held here at Jumuia Conference and Country Home, Limuru, 3^rd to 4^th April 2024, to transact statutory business and consider the state of the nation and our counties.

Guided by the theme “Dignified Livelihoods, Resilient Communities”, the Regional Conference was inspired by the scripture recorded in Galatians 6: 9 – 10

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people.

Appreciating that doing good is both a precursor and a result of dignifying people, we now share this message with the nation and the residents of our region, which covers Nairobi, Kiambu, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera counties.

1. Stop Impoverishing Our People

This Regional Conference is deeply concerned that the citizens of Kenya are going through a process of systematic and systemic impoverishment by the political and social governance structures. The aspiration expressed in our National Anthem, that Plenty Be Found Within Our Borders, is rapidly losing meaning in the lives of our people.

We call upon the national and county governments to speedily put in place measures to address the drivers of poverty and instead recognize that prosperous citizens make better nations. In this regard, we strongly recommend the following measures:

a) Transform Corruption Mindset

Corruption is killing our nation, and the only solution is a radical transformation of our social mindset from the hunter-gatherer mentality that pushes us to grab everything in sight while accumulating money and properties we will never use. We must all join hands to deliberately transform our society from a consumerism mentality to a producer mindset.

To achieve this, we challenge the Judiciary, the National Police Service, Parliament and the Executive to end their persistent and meaningless bickering and simply allow action to be taken against every person who engages in corruption. Let us always remember the warning God gives us in Ecclesiastes 8: 11

When the sentence for a crime is not QUICKLY carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.

On its part, we encourage the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) to change strategy and instead focus on instilling ethics and integrity in the citizens by permeating values in the education curriculum at all levels.

At the county level, we challenge our governors to clean up their governments to remove cartels and other corruption channels.

On our part, we commit to take the period between now and the next elections to educate our people on integrity and values, and will integrate the same in our churches.

b) Dignify Livelihoods

This Regional Conference has noted with concern that the policies being put in place by Parliament and County Assemblies are killing dignified livelihood options of the citizens. The Finance Acts passed by Parliament in the past 5 years, as well as the County Finance Appropriation Bills, have systematically muzzled businesses and investments by raising taxation to unmanageable levels. Hindrance of value addition ventures through restrictive policies and corruption-ridden bureaucracy continues to hinder the micro-level industrialization necessary for growth of the economy. This state of affairs is not sustainable and requires viable remedies.

Towards this, we strongly recommend the following measures:

One, we urge our county governments to provide favourable business environments by consolidating and rationalizing all the fees, levies and licenses required by different agencies and authorities. Starting and running a business should be made extremely easy, recognizing that the higher the number of enterprises translates to higher income for the county governments. In this regard, we advice the county governments to adopt the Huduma Center approach where a citizen can access all the certifications and licensing required under one roof.

Two, we continue to plead with the national and county governments to reduce the level of taxation. The sense of helplessness and despair driven by the high taxes is having a very high toll on the citizenry, and is killing productivity. We urge you to remember the consequences that followed when King Rehoboam of Israel ignored the wisdom of the elders, as we read in 1 Kings 12: 16

When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!”. So the Israelites went home.

If you remain insensitive to the suffering of the people, your leadership will be rejected and the nation could break apart.

Thirdly, we call upon all development partners and well wishers to support skilling and trainings on entrepreneurship for men, women, and the youth. The only way we will be able to create job opportunities required in our counties is by empowering more people to be job creators.

c) Punish Fertilizer Scammers

We in this Regional Conference are horrified at the blatant evil of packaging of fake fertilizer has been committed in full glare of the government, security agencies, and quality control agencies. Even more troubling is the revelation that the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) was used to distribute the fake fertilizer to farmers.

We are genuinely shocked that the heads of NCPB, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and Ministry of Agriculture have not stepped aside for exposing the nation to such a tragedy. That is the expected standard of integrity, for anyone who oversees a process in which Kenyans are conned of their money, their food security threatened, and the fertility of their farms damaged. We call upon President William Ruto to redeem the moral authority of the government by ensuring speedy and judicious punishment of all involved in the scandal.

2. Resolve Health Sector Crisis

We in this Regional Conference are disappointed and horrified by the callous manner in which the national and county governments are handling the persisting strike by medical workers. Just because the officials are able to pay for their medical care is not a reason to neglect and destroy the public healthcare system. May the warning in Proverbs 21: 13 always ring in the ears of all the officials who are involved in this crisis:

If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

We call upon the national government to complete the devolution of health services to the county governments, and urge the county governments to put the welfare of the people first.

4. Sensitize All on the NADCO Report

We in this Regional Conference have taken note that National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) completed its work and presented a report to Parliament. The report was passed, and indications by officials is that it will be implemented as is.

However, we are concerned that the Kenyans are not aware of the contents of the said report, or the changes that are likely to emerge from its implementation. The recent confessions by Members of Parliament that they passed the Finance Bill 2023 without reading it imply that even the NADCO report may have passed without scrutiny.

In this regard, we challenge Parliament, and especially the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, to facilitate a comprehensive nation-wide civic sensitization on the report. There must be deliberate effort to involve Kenyans in decisions that will affect their lives, especially in such weighty matters as those that could result in constitutional amendments.

Conclusion

We conclude our message by recalling the words of our National Anthem:

Natujenge taifa letu, Ee ndio wajibu wetu, Kenya istahili heshima; Tuungane mikono, Pamoja kazini, Kila siku tuwe na shukrani.

Let us all join hands to put effort on ensuring that every resident of Nairobi Region and the entire nation can have a dignified livelihood.

We also wish to iinform you that the Regional Conference elected a new team of officials to hold office 2024 – 2027. These are:

Chairperson: Rev Dr Alphonse Kanga

Vice Chair: Rev Canon Charles Chege

Hon Treasurer: CPA Jemimah Otido

Women Rep: Rev Martha Kihika

Youth Rep: Rev George Mutembei

PWD Rep: Samson Waweru

May God bless the Nairobi Region now and always.