The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) wants the government to obey the court orders and to withdraw the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) from the streets.
Though it’s Secretary General Canon Kinyanjui the umbrella council of churches said it was concerned that despite a court order, the military was deployed in different parts of Nairobi on Thursday. “We demand that the government commits to obey the law and allow the Kenyans to peacefully express their aspirations,” Rev Kinyanjui said.
He announced that all the churches who are the NCCK members would mourn with the families of the departed souls.
” On our part, we are organizing with our member churches to mark seven days of mourning to remember and honor the young heroes who have died as they exercise their constitutional right to participate in the demonstrations and the governance of the nation,” he said.
The days of mourning, Kinyanjui will commence Friday, June 28, and culminate in memorial services in our churches across the country all the way up to Sunday, 7, 2024.
“We urge the government and especially the president and the minister of defense because they are the ones who have done these actions. Kenyans want an assurance that matters to deal with civilians will be dealt with by the Kenya police service and all matters that we know under the constitution that are to be dealt with by our Kenya defense forces then are given to them,” the NCCK said.
While asking all actors in the country to keep talking about the matter, the NCCK said the Horn of Africa, has suffered a lot under security situations where the military comes out and does civilian affairs. ” Our statement to the Kenyans is that we stand with you in this period that we are feeling oppressed by overtaxation,” the statement from the NCCK said.
At the same time the church condemned the actions by the police to use force to enter into places of worship and beat up young people in those places and especially the beating up of medical personnel who are offered support to the young demonstrators.
“We condemn it and we ask that the Inspector General of police comes out with a way forward in terms of holding those who did that into account,” Kinyanjui said.
He also pushed the government to constitute the independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to secure the electoral future of our nation.
“We urge the President and concerned stakeholders to hear the cry of the people of Kenya and facilitate the completion of the process to appoint IEBC commissioners. Kenyans, in constituencies and wards that have been unable to hold by elections are suffering injustices and the boundaries review process is yet to be done. This process must be completed without further delay.”
While demanding the Judiciary, the police, Parliament and other State organs to do their job the NCCK said “If they don’t do their job, let us use the resources and the tools that we have in our hands to hold them to account and on this call, we give Gen Z an A.
They added “Look at the message from the Gen Z and the young people, it is one, that the churches have been infiltrated by politicians who are dishing out money and giving speeches from the altars. As NCCK, we have come up with guidelines for ministering to politicians when they come to church. For example, we don’t want them to be allowed to speak inside the congregation or the church.
The NCCK added that they don’t want the politicians to come and dish out money as well saying if the politicians want to hold their rallies, there are enough stadiums in this country.
“We are urging every pastor in this country that they need to listen to the voice of the young people. The young people are saying that pastors are desecrating the altars and places of worship, and it is time for them to put their house in order. I think the message is clear and as NCCK, we received that message from the young people,” Kinyanjui said.
Photo of NCCK Secretary General Rev Chris Kinyanjui