National Council of Churches of Kenya

Build Kenya on a Firm Foundation

Press Statement

1. Preamble

General Secretary Reading the Press Statement The Executive Committee of the National Council of Churches of Kenya has met here at Jumuia Conference and Country Home, Limuru, for the last two days to conduct official business and to reflect on the state of our nation. In our consultations, we reflected on the words recorded in the Bible in Jeremiah 2: 6, where God rebukes the people and says:

“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.”

Appreciating this rebuke, we considered the continuing development and moreso the moral degradation of our nation, and wish to invite all Kenyans to pay full attention to the following issues.

2. Cost of Living

It is our considered opinion that the spiraling cost of living is one of the greatest risks to the stability of our nation. The reality is that Kenyans, across the board, are being pushed to the fringes of poverty and despondency as their meager incomes are unable to pay for their basic necessities. The recent strikes by different professional groups may just be pointers to the threat of chaos in the labour sector. We advice that if comprehensive remedial measures are not courageously undertaken soon, the pressure being brought to bear on Kenyans will reach the breaking point and the nation may sink into a pit of social disintegration and generalized conflict. Whereas some causes of this economic crisis may be beyond the nation’s controls, there is a growing feeling that oil marketers and other profiteers are taking advantage of the situation to amplify their earnings. The government must move speedily to facilitate Kenyans to participate gainfully in economic activities that will bring relief at the personal, community and national levels. Further, the government must not shy from taxing unnecessary imports that escalate the deficit in the balance of trade being shouldered by Kenyans who cannot even afford food.

3. Bank Loans Interest Rates

While appreciating the measures taken by the Monetary Policy Committee to address the weakening Kenya Shilling, innocent Kenyans have had to bear the brunt of uncontrolled escalation of the bank interest rates. This is threatening to cripple the economic gains achieved so far, with the innocent borrowers bearing the pain especially on the old loan facilities. We do not understand why the commercial banks must apply the new interest rates on loans contracted years before this new crisis. Individual Kenyans and institutions made financial plans based on the interest rates they negotiated, and doubling the interest rates midstream will inevitably result in a high number of non performing loans, thereby consigning people who were navigating their way out of poverty back into it. We consider it irresponsible for the banks to abrogate their responsibility to help their customers to grapple through the crisis with dignity.

4. Land Reforms

We sympathise with innocent Kenyans whose houses have been demolished by the government in Syokimau and other areas in Nairobi.  The government has committed a great sin against the people of Kenya by failing to judiciously adjudicate land ownership and transactions. We state here that the government bears full responsibility for the suffering experienced by Kenyans whose houses have been demolished, and affirm that Kenyans have no protection against government offices and officers who collude with criminals to create fake Title Deeds complete with government seals and fake temporary files to enable fraudulent transactions.

We urge the Parliamentary Committee investigating the Syokimau, Eastleigh and other tragedies to advice that the government fully compensates all the innocent victims of its ineptitude and corruption. In addition, Permanent Secretaries, Cabinet Ministers and other senior ministry officials who served in the relevant ministries and departments when this corruption was abetted should be made to take responsibility and be banned from holding public offices.

5. Dealing With Impunity: Concerns Regarding The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions

The National Council of Churches of Kenya greatly appreciates the establishment of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions alongside the reforms in other justice related institutions including the Judiciary, the Police Service and the Attorney General’s chambers. We believe that this is an unprecedented opportunity for the nation to ensure delivery of justice and eradication of impunity.

We are therefore greatly concerned that this essential office is grossly under-resourced. It makes no sense to expect that the current team of 93 state counsels and 295 gazetted police prosecutors will effectively serve the projected 159 judges and 510 magistrates at all levels.

It is shocking to note that in this year’s budget, the DPP was allocated a paltry KShs 300 million. In the same budget, the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission, an institution whose life is justified only by the failure of the conventional justice system, and has performed dismally in tackling the only one crime of corruption, has been allocated a whooping KShs 2 billion. Is this an attempt by the government to give a false start to the Office of the DPP and ensure a perpetual miscarriage of justice?

We call upon the government to, without delay, enact a law that will establish a Public Prosecution Service Commission, empower the Office of the DPP to recruit its own staff, vet and absorb the qualified police prosecutors into the DPP, and derive funding directly from the Consolidated Fund.

6. Right to Life

For more than one hundred years, the church in Kenya has been a primary provider of health care to Kenyans. Currently, the church caters for 40 per cent of the health care needs to the people of Kenya. It is in this regard that we express the following:

One, we are greatly concerned that the government has chosen to work closely with institutions and bodies that are avowed promoters of abortion while locking out the same church that supports the health of our people

Two, the government is allowing pro-abortionists to determine the policy framework for healthcare services in Kenya while deliberately blocking the church and other religious institutions from making anything but a token contribution

Three, the church in Kenya remains staunchly opposed to any legislation, policies or code of conduct that affirms abortion on demand and a reckless provision of contraceptives to children

Four, the government must invest in an education that is built on sound moral and health values that ensures life affirming principles and mitigates the vulnerability of our children and youth

We demand that any and all laws that touch on maternal and child health should be drafted with the sole aim of ensuring the healthy outcome of pregnancy for both the mother and the child. As Kenyans, we should not allow our nation to be built on a foundation of legitimized murder of unborn children.

7. Responding to HIV and AIDS

We in the National Council of Churches of Kenya recognize the efforts that have been made in the last three decades to deal with the impact of the HIV and AIDS. We especially appreciate the initiatives made by churches and other religious institutions.

Recognizably, effective responses to HIV and AIDS begin with people knowing their status and living responsibly. It was in this regard that last Sunday we launched an initiative in which we are encouraging and supporting churches to provide HIV counseling and testing services to their congregations. We commend the courage of the over 2,000 congregants who tested across the country last Sunday. Initiatives are being established to ensure that those infected and affected are cared for and supported to live productive lives devoid of stigma and discrimination.

8. Persons With Disabilities

We note that tomorrow will mark the UN International Day for Persons with Disabilities. We therefore call upon the government, non government organizations and all Kenyans to fully integrate persons with disabilities in social, political and economic life of the nation.

9. Education

While appreciating the efforts made by the Task Force on the realignment of the education sector to the new constitution, we urge the team to speedily release their report. The education system of the nation is of great concern to us since values and practices of the people are integrated through the teachings they receive when they are young. On our part, we reiterate that role and place of sponsors and owners of schools must be recognized and protected. Further, in the new dispensation, the agreement between the government and sponsors should entrench an exit clause to enable the latter take back schools should the government violate the principles agreed upon in the Education Act of 1968.

10. Elections

We in the National Council of Churches of Kenya appreciate the appointment of the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission.

We urge the Commission to urgently put in place measures to ensure that the nation is ready for elections. In this regard, the essential actions must be taken, which include:

One, the Commission must prioritise the creation and demarcation of the new constituencies so that the next elections are in line with the constitutional provisions.

Two, there should be extensive, comprehensive and timely voter education to ensure that Kenyans are ready to participate in elections where they will be required to vote for six positions

On our part as the NCCK, we remain committed to this course and we have in that regard established a framework for civic education, voter education and elections monitoring. We further call on Kenyans to embrace integrity in leadership with a view to weeding out corrupt and ineffective persons who have used their political positioning to trap our nation in poverty, ethnic intrigues and underdevelopment.

We further call upon Kenyans to wholeheartedly reject political violence and to emphatically vote against persons who promote political violence. The IEBC together with the NCIC (National Cohesion and Integration Commission) must also take decisive action against all leaders who incite their supporters to visit violence and intimidation against their competitors.

11. Conclusion

The stability and prosperity of our nation depends on the foundations on which it is built. Let us always remember that a nation founded on corruption, deceit, selfishness and consumerism will eventually collapse when the times of testing come. As we have captured in our National Anthem, let us build our nation on Justice, unity, peace and liberty.

We, in this last Executive Committee meeting of the year, take this opportunity as staff, management and leaders of the National Council of Churches of Kenya and our member churches and organizations, to wish all Kenyans a blessed Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous 2012.

Signed on this 2nd day of December 2011 at Jumuia Conference and Country Home, Limuru.

Rev. Dr Charles Kibicho

CHAIRMAN

Rev Canon Peter Karanja

GENERAL SECRETARY