{"id":14570,"date":"2022-07-08T19:36:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T19:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/?p=14570"},"modified":"2022-07-08T19:36:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T19:36:03","slug":"kenya-bishops-call-on-the-judiciary-other-key-actors-to-play-their-role-for-a-peaceful-electioneering-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2022\/07\/08\/kenya-bishops-call-on-the-judiciary-other-key-actors-to-play-their-role-for-a-peaceful-electioneering-process\/","title":{"rendered":"KENYA: Bishops Call on the Judiciary, other Key Actors to Play their Role for a \u201cPeaceful Electioneering Process\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA<\/em><\/p>\n

Members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) in their message to Kenyans concerning the upcoming August 9 General Elections, have called on the judiciary and other actors to take key responsibility in playing their role for electioneering process to be peaceful.<\/p>\n

In their weekly message dubbed \u201cthe Bishops\u2019 Voice,\u201d the prelates highlighted that when democratic processes are well managed by all actors, the outcome becomes \u201ctransparent, fair and credible, and consequently legitimate and acceptable to all.\u201d Besides, \u201cthe results of any democratic process are as good as the quality of the process adopted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stressing that preparedness is not only left to members of the electoral body but that all other actors in the country should be involved, the bishops said in their Sunday, July 3 message read by Bishop Joseph Obanyi Sagwe, \u201cour experience shows that elections preparedness goes beyond the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and security agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are other players and sectors who are crucial, for a peaceful electioneering process. We specifically call upon these actors, such as the various Churches and Faiths, the Civil Society, the Media in its entirety, the Executive especially the whole Government machinery up to the grassroots and in a special way the Judiciary, to live up to the expectations of integrity, and show impartiality and fairness,\u201d Bishop Obanyi of Kenya\u2019s Kakamega Diocese read the statement on behalf of the Church leaders.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThey must play their role faithfully and fully,\u201d knowing that, for Democracy to thrive, and be the avenue of decision making of the Nation, \u201ceveryone, every institution and every official plays a key role. The major democratic process we engage in as citizens is electing leaders in the General Elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing members of the Judiciary on the importance of its preparedness for the possible litigations on August election results, the Kenyan Prelate underscored that a good Judicial system, \u201cprotects and gives space to Democracy, hence the Judiciary is the final gatekeeper for justice and for democratic rights and indeed all rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to members of KCCB, the entire elections process is anchored on law, where all candidates and the electorate are active players who must follow the law which indicates the rights and duties of each one.<\/p>\n

They warned that the law must never seem to be applied in different ways to different people, sharing their observation that, \u201cOften we see the application of law enforcement and Justice in a way that it punished the poor caught engaging in violence, while the real culprits, who could be political actors who incited the violence, go unpunished even disguising themselves as defenders of the citizens’ rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is therefore important that the law defends everyone, especially the poor, and their rights from the moment of campaigning, to voting, counting of votes and announcing results that reflect the will of every voter,\u201d they said in their Sunday collective statement.<\/p>\n

The Catholic Bishops\u2019 concerns to members of the Judiciary is their preparedness and \u00a0capability to do all what it takes, to handle all emerging electoral cases with \u201cspeed and fairness, aware of the stakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe courts should prepare themselves to discharge their mandate in a manner that brings honor to the disputing parties, to the country but especially in a way that the ordinary voters will see their voting exercise respected,\u201d the bishops said in their message and continued, \u201cBesides, a fair and transparent ruling builds the confidence of Kenyans in their own institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on the bishops\u2019 concerns, they asked the judiciary \u201cto set a time limit upon which all electoral cases should be resolved to avoid delayed justice for candidates and their supporters, maybe a 100 days to conclude petitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the civil society and faith organizations the Church leaders narrated they are critical non-state actors who have a right to monitor the progress of the on-going electioneering campaigns and elections, \u201cto ensure justice prevails at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir monitoring tasks involves among others reporting on voter bribery, flagging politicians who incite people against each other, highlighting malpractices, and promoting a spirit of democracy,\u201d reads an excerpt of the Sunday 3 statement.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the media \u201cmust be sharp in calling out individuals violating the electoral law and must avoid favouritism.\u201d At the same time the prelates called Religious leaders and Religions to remain impartial for the sake of their followers, who have divergent views so as to maintain peace among their followers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe trust that our Judiciary will be our first and last defender in the line of seeking justice,\u201d they said in their concluding remarks adding that, \u201cElection results are emotive and the Judiciary should uphold Solomonic wisdom, interest of the lowly, fair interpretation of the law and the spirit behind every article of the law to ensure this year’s General Elections strengthen our resilience towards a just society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA Members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amecea-news","category-kenya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14571,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570\/revisions\/14571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}