KENYA: Glares at a “Dangerous Political Deadlock” as Calls by Religious Leaders for Dialogue Fall on Deaf Ears.
A section of Catholic Bishops During a Press Release at Donum Dei, Karen Nairobi on March 22, 2023
Elizabeth Asasha
A chest-thumping government, an unbudgeable opposition stance in a country plagued by a plethora of economic crises, Kenya is facing an ugly political deadlock as pleas by religious leaders to call off the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition demonstrations and instead focus on dialogue go unheeded.
On Wednesday, March 22, two days after the opposition staged nationwide protests, Kenyan Catholic bishops in a unity of thought with the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), called on His Excellency president William Ruto to dialogue with his political nemesis, Rt. Hon Raila Amollo Odinga to resolve the “dangerous standoff” ogling the country.
The bishops cited a series of economic crises that have plagued the country and enslaved Kenyans in their land stressing that the country does not possess the “economic muscle” to endure mass action.
“The devastating high cost of living and inflation, the high gripping taxation, excessive borrowing that has made Kenyans slaves in their own country; working to pay creditors,” read Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde, chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB).
The clergy also noted the high rate of unemployment, the prolonged drought menace, and the ongoing banditry mess in the north rift region of the country that have plunged citizens into misery and desperation emphasizing that, “There cannot be a good reason to resort to the standoff and the defiance of our leaders to the detriment of Kenyans.”
Calls for peaceful dialogue have continued to reverberate through the country following the Monday, March 20, 2023 opposition protest with clergies cautioning the government and the opposition against chest-thumping and defiance urging the duo to, “establish a common ground to address the ills facing the country and restore the much-needed sanity,” pleas that the two rivaling parties have dismissed.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua brushed off calls for dialogue requesting the clergy to instead ask the opposition leader to end the anti-government protests, “We are asking our church leaders please don’t request us to sanction blackmail and impunity because what Raila Odinga is doing is blackmailing us into talks,” said the president’s next in command terming the dialogue path as a trap to intimidation and manipulation.
On his part, Azimio leader Raila Odinga quoted the Bible in John 8:2 to defend the protests saying they are aimed at seeking the truth which is espoused in the holy book. He went ahead to reiterate that the coalition leaders are not interested in a handshake with President William Ruto as alluded to by his close allies and that they cannot engage in a truce with a government that he termed as “illegitimate”.
“This is an insult to the intelligence of Kenyans. We cannot and we will not participate in a handshake with an illegitimate regime,” he said.
Azimio La Umoja One Kenya presented a raft of issues that they need the national government to address key among them the high cost of living, forensic audit of the August 9 general election, and the reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“We want the reconstitution of the IEBC to be stopped and the reinstatement of IEBC commissioners and the ending of trivialization when it comes to appointments,” Odinga added.
On Monday March 20, Nairobi’s Central Business District turned out to be the epicenter of altercation between police and protesters, choking business life out of the typically lively streets bustling with business.
What will be the fate of a country beset by multiple economic crises with two competing coalitions, heedless of the pleas by religious leaders; a government that thumps its chest in the face of an unyielding opposition that has vowed to continue holding weekly nationwide anti-government protests every Monday and Thursday?
