National Council of Churches of Kenya

Speech Given by

Rev. Canon Peter Karanja
General Secretary

During the

One Kenya, One Dream: Kenya We Want Conference

On
6th February 2009

At
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Nairobi

1 Introduction
The Chairman of the session, Religious leaders present, Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am greatly honoured to come and address you this afternoon on the topic “The Role of Religious Groups in Promoting National Cohesion” as we continue deliberating on how to build the Kenya We Want. For sure, we shall not have a Kenya to talk about if we fail to build cohesion. Kenya will be Kenya only if every Kenyan feels a sense of belonging to the nation. This is an honour that Kenyans have been denied over the decades, resulting in a system where Kenyans derive their primary identity from their tribe / clan rather than a national identity. We cannot ignore this fact, or pretend that we can build a nation while it abounds.

I therefore appreciate the wisdom in holding this Conference, and the recognition that religious institutions have a role to play in the process of building The Kenya We Want. For us as Christians, the building of a prosperous nation is encouraged and even commanded in the Bible, for God has instructed us to work for the prosperity of the nations we dwell in.

2 Planning Kenya
Mr Chairman, in attempting to build a prosperous nation, three Conferences, all dubbed “The Kenya We Want”, have been held. The first was in 1962 just before independence, the second was in 1978 just before the first president passed on, and the third was held in the 1990s. A primary shortcoming of these conferences was the absence of clear indications that the proposals made were translated into policy and legal provisions. The magnified nature of the challenges that have undermined the progress of our nation, suggest that the good deliberations accruing from the past conferences were either not employed or were not good enough. It is sad that with the exception of the first few years after independence during which real progress was made in some areas such as the economy, the country has experienced perpetual haemorrhage. We have experienced inter and intra-ethnic conflicts as well as inter religious, inter class, inter-gender and inter-age differences in increasing measure.

We therefore hope that this particular conference has very clear in built mechanisms for harnessing the proposals made, for this is a golden opportunity to listen to, to hear and to understand each other. Together we shall determine the way forward for our nation.

3 Basis of Cohesion
Mr Chairman, cohesion is defined as “the act or state of sticking together”, making it a synonym for unity. National cohesion refers to a state where all people in Kenya are held together by a sense of unity, justice, fairness, equality, accommodation, mutual accountability and equal opportunity.

National Cohesion will only be achieved if we attend to the following five elements attendant to this:

a) National Vision
The greatest gift that this Conference can give Kenyans, Mr Chairman, is a proposal of a national vision. We as a nation must have a dream in which we see all Kenyans working side by side in all capacities with leadership being given by a government that creates equal opportunities for all Kenyans. This will effectively shift the basis of identity from the tribe to the nation, thereby resolving the basic underlying cause of conflicts in the country.

b) Common Value System
A national vision, Mr Chairman, will only be achieved if all the people commit to a common set of values. We therefore must, as a nation, employ all our effort to inculcate these values in the lives and practices of all Kenyans. I propose the following as values that this nation can adopt:

i. The Fear of God
ii. Respect for sanctity of life from conception to natural death
iii. Personal integrity
iv. Excellence and Professionalism in service to all Kenyans
v. Inclusiveness and non-discrimination
vi. Decency and Moral Uprightness
vii. Obedience of the law
viii. Respect for other people and their properties
ix. Strong family values
x. Stewardship and accountability by all

c) Vetting of Leaders
On the basis of these values, we as a nation should build a culture where civil servants, public officers and political leaders are vetted. A country like ours cannot inculcate the right values in the children and youth if those that serve in all leadership capacities do not exemplify those values. No one should be allowed to hold a leadership position if they do not subscribe to such national values or if they live lives that contradict them. When this culture takes root, Mr Chairman, Kenyans will not be allowed to elect corrupt and immoral persons as political leaders because the system will have dropped them.

d) Education
Education, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the most effective vehicle for inculcating the national vision and values in the lives of our people. We must start teaching them from birth all through university. The most effective period, however, will be when the children join formal education institutions. There must be deliberate effort to develop school and pre-school curricula to mainstream the national vision and values. Towards this, the teaching of values cannot be compartmentalized into a specific subject. The national values and national vision must be part and parcel of the teaching of all subjects and the entire non-formal part of the education process.

Mr Chairman, we would like to see a situation where there is a connection between what children learn in class and the practical reality they live in. Field visits and practical work should reinforce national values. The Geography student must be helped to value the environment in addition to passing exams. This will ensure that students adopt the national values whichever career path they choose to follow. This way, we shall produce people with character that reflects our national aspirations.

Mr Chairman, a major challenge that will face the task of inculcating values is the fact that such will not be examinable and will tend to be sidelined in the face of examination pressure. To prevent such an eventuality, there will be need for development of a mechanism by which teachers and educational institutions will be held accountable to adopt and entrench these national values and national vision.

Another challenge, Mr Chairman, will be a failure by the teachers to fulfil their crucial duty of being role models. I do appreciate that the young learn more from copying the adults than by listening. The lifestyles of teachers and other staff in educational institutions will therefore need to be of the highest calibre so as to display the national values. The management of educational institutions must reflect these very values we are aspiring for if we expect the children to appreciate them.

Further, to empower the students to take on a Kenyan identity, we must as a matter of urgency de-ethnicise schools and other institutions. Children who go through pre-primary, primary and secondary school education in mono-ethnic settings find it more difficult to appreciate other tribes and tend to perpetuate the same stereotypes that have caused us to ostracise and even kill each other. The prime action required here, Mr Chairman, is revocation of quota system in primary and secondary schools, and development of a scheme through which schools that admit students from different ethnicities and different provinces are rewarded. This of course will remove the classification of schools as district, provincial and national since all of them will be expected to have a national coverage.

e) Social-Economic and Political Structures
To build a better and prosperous Kenya, we must build socio-economic and political structures that will create space and opportunities for all Kenyans. Infrastructural development must be balanced across all the regions in the nation to ensure that no Kenyan can rightly claim to be marginalised. Why should we have a situation where Nairobi is one of the most advanced cities in Africa in terms of transport and telecommunication systems yet there are districts that don’t have a single tarmac road? Why should we have a situation where Kenyans have to struggle to reach health care facilities fifty or more kilometres away? Why should the agricultural and other products go to waste because there are no roads to get them to the market? Mr Chairman, can a Kenyan growing up at Kalokol be considered to have the same opportunities in life as a Kenyan growing up at Limuru?

If we don’t balance socio-economic development across the country, we shall always have complaints about marginalisation and various types of conflict based on ethnic identity.

f) National Institutions
Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, we must institutionalise the processes and organs that are crucial to national life. Power must be transferred from individuals to well structured institutions since institutions have the capacity to outlive individuals. A current concern is that the three arms of democratic governance are not working well. The Parliament is particularly rogue, with the Members having taken over the role of the executive to determine the terms of service of all public servants. They are in every sense misusing the power. Further, Parliament has on various occasions threatened the Judiciary when the latter exercises its prerogative. This should not continue to be. Parliament was meant to work in tandem with the Executive and the Judiciary, not to downplay and disempower them. Regulation, Mr Chairman, is meant to help everyone including those who imagine that they can wield absolute power.

In addition, other important well-structured oversight and implementation institutions must be set up. Empowering such institutions will reduce the temptation that politicians have to misuse their offices. As it is today, the fight for political power has been the cause of the conflicts we have experienced this far.

g) Corruption
Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like all Kenyans to know that no one is rich because of what they steal or amass by corrupt means. It is abhorrent for anyone to relegate other people to poverty as he or she corruptly amasses wealth for themselves. Let us learn from those countries that have systems that make it possible for all people to pursue their ambitions and goals to the benefit of all. In those countries, even the poor have basics like water, transport, telecommunications, electricity and labour systems that minimize exploitation. As a result, the average citizens of those countries have much less propensity to steal, and the apparent selflessness of their leaders means fewer people live in abject poverty. Mr Chairman, the level of corruption in Kenya today is such that the poor can rise up against those they perceive as perpetrators of corruption in a revolution that could be quite bloody.

As a people, we must therefore make a firm commitment to eradicate corruption both by ending the era of impunity and by education. It must be made clear that every person will face the consequences of their actions, whatever those may be. No one should be allowed to commit a crime, to defraud the nation, and get away with it. An important step in this direction will be teaching that Kenya belongs to all Kenyans, and when anyone steals “mali ya umma” they are stealing from us all. In addition, balanced regional development will ensure that Kenyans will no longer approve of and idolize the thieves but instead despise them.

4 Religion and National Cohesion
In the building of The Kenya We Want, religious organisations have a key role to play. Religion is a major part of the culture of all human societies. It forms the bedrock on which individual and national values are built, and so cannot be separated from the life of the nation.

Allow me, Mr Chairman, to share briefly as an example the role that the National Council of Churches of Kenya has played in the lives of Kenyans. The NCCK was very key in the development of the 1924 Devonshire White Paper that declared that Kenya was for Africans; NCCK fought vehemently against the policies by colonialists which allowed them to recruit forced labour; NCCK opposed female circumcision from the 1920s; NCCK from those early days of the 20th century introduced education for Africans. Later, the Council was to play a chaplaincy and protective role as the people were held in detention centres during the war for independence; and actively developed African political leadership in readiness for independence.

After independence, the Council continued to be involved in the life of Kenya by setting up social services delivery systems and the Village Polytechnics, which by the way collapsed when the government assumed control over them. NCCK was a pioneer in small and micro enterprise financing and urban housing. We opposed the mlolongo voting system; We facilitated peace building and reconciliation in the Rift Valley; and We rehabilitated thousand of cattle rustlers in the North Rift region. More recently, we have been on the frontline fighting for a new constitution for our nation. These, Mr Chairman, are just a few of the many ways in which we have been involved in shaping and protecting the lives of Kenyans. The other religious institutions have been similarly engaged. How then can it be said that religion is irrelevant in the lives of the people?

Regrettably, Mr Chairman, it is clear that Kenya is increasingly being dominated by secularism, consumerism and materialism. This has promoted the growth of a culture of atheism and an over exaltation of the market economy, technology and communication. It is only true religion that can reverse this trend by giving the people a greater meaning for life and promote good morals and spiritual values.

We therefore see the religious organisations playing a key role in building a new Kenya.

5 Proposals on the Way Forward
Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to make the following four proposals:

i. National Religious Commission
I am convinced that time has come for this nation to have a National Religious Commission. This will be a legal body with the powers of National Commissions and will serve as the central point where religious issues and concerns will be addressed and dealt with formally. Among the Terms of Reference for the Commission will be powers to:

1. Address Inter Religious relations and tensions
2. Establish minimum standards and good practices in the conduct of worship and religious affairs
3. Have oversight over religious institutions and organisations, that is, a place where aggrieved persons can take complaints emanating from operations of religious bodies
4. Review of and approve for registration religious bodies to ensure that Kenyans are not denied their right to worship, without opening the door to self seekers and manipulators who in the guise of religion would fleece their followers and undermine the national values
5. Coordinate a formal interface between the religious organisations and the government departments and corporations for partnership and collaboration and mutual accountability
6. Serve as the point at which religious organisations will hold the state to account on its operations
7. Participate in the development of the curricula for religious instruction in all educational institutions and monitor the implementation of the same

The National Religious Commission would bring together delegates from the representative religious bodies in the country, and will require a legal framework so as to give it a formal identity. A relevant ministry would house the Commission.

ii. Education
Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have already indicated the importance of education in socializing the new Kenya in the lives of the people. This cannot be over-emphasized. It is therefore regrettable that over the years, the government has consistently and deliberately pushed religion, especially Christianity, out of the schools. This is a trend that must be reversed without further delay.

To promote religious instruction in schools, the government has made it a policy that only qualified teachers can serve as chaplains in educational institutions. To carry this forward, we urge that:

a. The state enters into a partnership with religious institutions for promotion of chaplaincy by supporting the equipping and preparing of teachers to play the chaplaincy role. This should also help ministers to receive training in education to enable them serve in schools.
b. The Ministry of Education mainstreams a scheme of service for the teachers who serve as chaplains / religious leaders so as to give them good incentives to carry out the work so that it is not at the expense of their being promoted to other positions in the schools.

iii. Religious Organisations and Churches Commit Themselves to Prudent and Professional Management
One of the key roles of religious institutions is presenting an example of cohesion. We cannot be divided and expect the nation to be united; We cannot mismanage our own affairs then hold the government and private institutions to account. Religious institutions and more so churches must on their part be prudent and professional in their internal management.

A primary element in this process will be the religious organisations having space for accountability and transparency on their leadership standards, practices and strategies. We expect the guidelines for this to be provided by the National Religious Commission.

iv. Values
As I indicated earlier, Mr Chairman, religious institutions will have a very important role to play in the development and socialisation of national values for the nation. Religious instruction and the very lives of the religious leaders will thus be shaped to reflect and promote the national values. In addition to this, religious organisations will take it upon themselves to undertake extensive civic empowerment exercises to educate the general public. This is a strategy in which religious institutions have shown strong competence in the past.

6 Conclusion
As I conclude, I wish to underscore three things: No one can be a balanced human being without having the fear of God; No one can be rich amidst the poor; No one can be an effective leader if they go into leadership to acquire wealth. We must change our way of thinking as Kenyans so that whoever among us gets called to leadership will do so seeking to ensure that all Kenyans are facilitated to pursue their ambitions while minimizing negative competition.

I appreciate that religious institutions have played a very important role in the life and development of our nation. We shall continue to play this important role of seeking the best for this nation and the people of Kenya. We shall confront the government and politicians where need arises; We shall stand against excesses by any person or persons. We shall mobilise the citizenry to do what is right through responsible civic education, and will in that way foster the evolution of a cohesive nation.

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish you all fruitful discussions as this Conference nears its closure. May God bless you all.