KENYA: AMECEA JPC Engages with Diocesan J&P Secretaries on Electioneering Process
Kenya J&P electioneering Team
Under the banner of Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops’, Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC), AMECEA held a one-day session on Kenyan elections, which are expected later in August 2017.
This is within the effort of AMECEA JPC plan to engage with governance programmes under the support of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) who are supporting the electioneering process engagement in Kenya and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
The essence of the meeting was to look at the challenges being experienced by the CJPC Secretaries in preparing for the elections as well as providing input on potential mechanisms of ensuring peaceful and credible elections.
Speaking during the session, Beatrice Odera (National CJPC Secretary) thanked AMECEA JPC for walking with Kenya in this process and hoped that the Catholic Church in Kenya would be able to benefit from the regional reach of AMECEA especially in knowledge sharing.
She acknowledged the input provided by the Zambian Conference of Catholic Bishops through Caritas Zambia on their experience with the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) during the 2016 Zambian elections. Of interest to the Kenyan team was keen to learn on establishing and running a parallel voting tabulation system which would provide the Church with capacity to walk with the Kenyan Independent Boundaries and Elections Commission (IEBC) and most importantly the electorate.
On his part, Antony Mbandi, Head of AMECEA Justice Peace and Caritas Department, commended the commitment of the Diocesan CJPC Secretaries in working with communities at the local level and encouraged them to remain the face of Christ at the local level especially in providing messages of hope and peace.
Kenya sits uniquely in the AMECEA region and it provides a safe haven for persons who are afflicted by conflict in the region and therefore maintaining peace and tranquility in the country will go long way in ensuring the people living within this region are not adversely affected.
In the recent past, the region has seen elections taking place Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia. All these countries have had transitions with sporadic conflicts. This, though not on a large scale still provides need to be concerned.
AMECEA JPC will be engaged with the Kenyan electioneering process throughout the preparation, actual elections day and post election monitoring.
