The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has urged Kenyans to exercise their democratic right to recall underperforming Members of Parliament, expose and reject corrupt leaders and demand for people-focused reforms.
The 8-point letter addressed the people of Kenya calling on the citizens to ‘arise and shape your future destiny’. Read by Rev. Dr. Elias Otieno, the Chair of NCCK and its Secretary General Rev Canon Chris Kinyanjui on December 3, 2024, the council’s Executive Committee expressed concern on the increased abductions of civilians and human rights defenders.
Rev. Otieno said the constitutional and legal framework in Kenya is under attack and that “lies and falsehoods have been elevated to the point where no one knows what to believe any more.”
While NCCK said the statement was a ‘Pastoral Letter’ to the people of Kenya, the blunt assessment of the state of the nation addressed the leadership of the country which the council accused of perpetuating a culture of lies and corruption to rise and hold on to power.
“The situation in our country is the direct result of our tendency, as the people of Kenya, to listen to and believe the narratives peddled by persons seeking to rise to or hold onto political leadership. These narratives are often premised on lies and falsehoods. We appeal to you, Brothers and Sisters, to be seekers of truth,” said Rev. Otieno.
NCCK encouraged the citizens to recall MPs, some who had become ‘spanner boys’ of the executive branch of the government used to pass unpopular laws “instead of representing the people.” Citing the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the council encouraged voters to exercise their democratic rights by collecting signatures and “commence the process of recalling the Members of Parliament who are not performing as per your requirements and demands.”
To facilitate this process, the council demanded that the political class reconstitute the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the body mandated to carry out the elections and the removal of leaders. Rev. Otieno said that the refusal to reconstitute the IEBC is “a major insult to the people of Kenya and an attack on who we are as a nation.”
The government has faced citizen pushback on some of the laws and policies that have been enacted with the help of MPs. The most pronounced of these pushbacks is the Finance Bill 2024, which aimed to increase taxes, and sparked widespread demonstrations in June and July in Kenya. The youth-led protests started as an online opposition to the bill through the #RejectFinanceBill2024 hashtag, but spread to the streets thanks to Kenyan GenZs who used social media to mobilize and lead the protests.
NCCK also demanded the withdrawal and immediate suspension of the Social Health Insurance Fund which came into effect on October 1, 2024 but has faced several implementation issues. Rev. Otieno said that Kenyans need to hold the legislatures accountable for “hurriedly passing the bills in parliament while knowing full well that they were going to cause suffering in the nation.”
The council also put the lawmakers to task for introducing and passing laws that would change the electoral framework and at least 9 agriculture-related bills that would radically change food production in the country by, for example, criminalizing reuse of seeds by farmers.
The statement from NCCK, an authoritative body representing over 50 Christian churches and organisations including the Anglican Church of Kenya, Methodist Church of Kenya, Coptic Orthodox Church, the Salvation Army among others, is the latest exchange between the State and the Church. The Church has become increasingly vocal and direct on issues of governance, accountability and human rights since the Gen Z protests.
This comes after Kenya’s youthful population challenged the Church to disassociate itself with politicians and to be the voice of voiceless during the June protests. Different Christian bodies then admitted that the Church in Kenya had an unhealthy relationship with politicians and affirmed the right of young people to peacefully demonstrate against bad governance and injustice.
President William Ruto, an evangelical, came into power in August 2022 with the help of a strong support base from Christians across different religious groups. Two years down the road, however, he appears to have fallen out of favour with the Church.
The influential Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) released a hard-hitting letter mid-November where Nairobi Archbishop Philip Anyolo reiterated that the Catholic Church would return the $45,000 donated and pledged by Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and President Ruto during a Church service.
According to Archbishop Anyolo, these actions were in line with both Church policy and the Public Fundraising Appeals Bill, 2024, which requires individuals seeking to raise funds publicly to obtain a permit.
He emphasized that political donations violated these directives and the law. “Consequently, the donations made to Soweto Catholic Church on Sunday, November 17, are in violation of these directives and the law. These funds will be refunded to the respective donors,” the statement read.
NCCK’s statement aligned with the Catholic Bishop’s stand on financial contribution from politicians encouraging Kenyans to reject contributions by political leaders and their appointees “knowing that most of the money given is stolen taxes.” Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit, reading the NCCK statement, said that while politicians and state officers are free to worship and give offering just like other congregants, the Church will not allow the pulpit to be used for “self-promotion and self-marketing” insisting that politicians will not be allowed to address the congregation inside the Church.
On its part, the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya called on the government to organise a national convention to deliberate on the pressing issues of healthcare, education, corruption and electoral reforms. EAK Chairman Phillip Kitoto proposed that the president should gazette the National Restoration Convention “to allow the country to converge, converse and reset the country and nation on a firm value-based foundation.”
