Religious leaders have called upon political leaders to carefully measure their words and actions so as to promote unity and ease tensions in the country.
The members of the clergy further requested political leaders to embrace dialogue as a means of solving disputes.
Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops Chairman Rev. Martin Kivuva equally called on the government to firmly deal with criminals who are terrorizing some regions of the country as well as those destroying people’s property during demonstrations.
They also urged the government to reduce the cost of living in the country as promised during the campaign season.
The religious leaders expressed their reservations on willingness of the state and political actors to resolve the current political instability in the country through bipartisan talks as envisaged earlier by both the government and the opposition party.
Additionally, Bishop Kivuva lamented that the government’s call for regulation of churches was a facade meant to divert attention of the public from the real problems.
On the issue of rogue pastors, Rev Kivuva said that pastor Mackenzie has been arrested multiple times, but released every time to go and continue his missions.
“The criminal activities carried out in the name of the Good News international church have been going on for a long time and government officials ought to have known what was happening,” he said.
“Information that is publicly available shows that pastor Paul Mackenzie has been arrested and treated casually on multiple occasions but released each time to go and continue,” he added.
While addressing the press during a meeting held by religious leaders at Ufungamano house, Rev. Kivuva called upon the government to expedite investigations and prosecute not only pastor Makenzie, but also the state officers who were compromised through bribery over the years to facilitate him to engage in criminal activities.
On his part, Supreme Council Kenya Muslims chair Al haji Hassan Ole Wando encouraged citizens to remain peaceful despite the challenges and provocations.
At the same time, the religious leaders hinted at their plan to structure self-regulation guidelines that will cater for religious groups in the country. The same will be with members of the public in due course.
The religious leaders also urged Wananchi to resist incitement by political and other leaders who were only fighting for their own selfish ambitions.
By Ali Sheikh Mohamed
