Catholic bishops offer to meet Ruto, Raila to end protests
Catholic bishops have offered to sit down with President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga to find a way to end the weekly anti-government demonstrations.
Nairobi Catholic Archbishop Philip Anyolo said an inter-religious group of leaders was ready to mediate.
He said the ongoing standoff pitting the Kenya Kwanza government and the opposition will lead to political intolerance that will be detrimental to peace and stability.
“Enter into a dialogue and discuss issues. Dialogue will resolve things and if we never enter into dialogue about issues, we shall get half solutions of the very problems that we have and which might spill over even in the next generations. We want to ask our government and our leaders to exercise servant leadership that looks into the needs of the people and comes down to talk, just like families do,” he said.
Anyolo spoke at St Bernadette Catholic Church Ngoingwa, Thika, on Sunday.
He condemned demonstrations that have spread to various parts of the country, saying they might get out of hand and lead to anarchy and create acrimony and divisions among communities.
Anyolo stated while the opposition team are constitutionally allowed to express themselves through demonstrations, they should not infringe on the right of other Kenyans through destruction of both private and public property.
The archbishop was joined by Thika MP Alice Ng’ang’a in urging Kenyans to seek peace, insisting that it is only through talks that a permanent solution will be found for social-economic development of the country.
“We also want to talk to the opposition side to take notice that perhaps what is happening might go out of control. If they really care for the people of Kenya, then they should hold organised and well-planned demonstrations that avoid any destruction of public and private property. Many Kenyans have died as a result of demonstrations and this situation, when it goes out of control, can be destructive,” the archbishop said.
He noted that the demonstrations have affected sources of livelihoods for many Kenyans revealing that hungry Kenyans, among them the demonstrators, have been streaming to Catholic churches in Nairobi begging for food.
“This suffering has caused a lot of pain among the people because of starvation and increased cost of living. Of late we have seen so many people coming to the archdiocese to look for food because they were not able to work and some of them never worked because they were demonstrating,” he stated.
The archbishop called on the government to pay attention and find solutions for challenges bedevilling Kenyans including the high cost of living to calm the tensions.
Anyolo further took issue with both government and opposition leaders for continuous use of violent language, saying they were setting a bad example to youths who are looking up to them as role models.
“Stop talking in public using words that are unpleasant to the ears of Kenyans. We are a growing nation and many of us Kenyans are young people who are looking for good role models especially in the political area of life. We want the government and the opposition leaders to cease speaking in vulgar, war and criminal languages in the public,” he added.
MP Ng’ang’a urged congregants to pray for the country ahead of planned Wednesday, Thursday and Friday protests saying that Kenya Kwanza government is ready to work and deliver the promises it made to Kenyans.
“We were given subsidised fertiliser but they criticised the programme. We are now about to harvest enough food because of God. This government came through prayers and the same must be sustained through prayers. We need to initiate infrastructural developments that will spur our economic activities,” she said. BY THE STAR
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