{"id":45,"date":"2016-04-01T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T12:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2016\/04\/01\/kenya-religious-leaders-express-concern\/"},"modified":"2016-05-03T09:40:29","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T09:40:29","slug":"kenya-religious-leaders-express-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2016\/04\/01\/kenya-religious-leaders-express-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"KENYA: Religious leaders express concern over IEBC aptitude and demand transparency and accountability ahead of General Election next year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nReligious leaders in Kenya, who recently met
\nunder the Kenya Inter Faith Elections Programme (KIEP), have expressed their
\nconcerns over the prevailing political activities and especially early
\ncampaigns ahead of the 2017 country\u2019s general election and reiterated that it must
\nbe free, fair, peaceful and credible.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn their Press statement issued on 31 March 2016
\nat Ol Lerai Jumuia Palace Nairobi on behalf of Kenya Inter Faith Elections
\nProgramme the religious leaders stated that the greatest hindrance to free,
\nfair, peaceful and credible elections in Kenya has always been the failure by
\nelectoral management bodies to enforce the electoral laws, a trend that has
\nbeen perfected by the IEBC\u2019s refusal to implement to provisions of the
\nElections Act 2011. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThis has resulted in the situation where some
\npeople behave as though they are untouchable sacred cows that can commit any
\nmanner of elections offences without any repercussions. We wish to inform the
\nIEBC commissioners and staff that their day of emancipation from political
\npatronage will be the day they bar errant individuals from participating in elections.
\nThen, and only then, will Kenyans start taking them seriously,\u201d read the
\nstatement.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThey have keenly observed the recent events that
\nhave demonstrated shortcomings in the capacity of the IEBC to handle various
\nelectoral responsibilities. These, alongside the issue of the term of the
\ncurrent leadership, must be candidly addressed. This is especially so since
\ntheir term will expire soon after the 2017 General Elections. \u201cTo this end, we
\nwould urge Kenyans to soberly address these issues, and we as religious leaders
\nare willing to participate in the process and possible lead it,\u201d they stated.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThey urged that all the security officers to
\npurpose to ensure the security and integrity of the 2017 General Elections by
\nensuring that any and all persons who break the law are dealt with immediately.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTo the politicians, the religious leaders urged
\nthem to cease making elections a matter of life and death for Kenyans. \u201cIt is
\nimmoral and sinful for anyone who is seeking a position to casually posit that
\nKenyans can die and be maimed just so that they achieve your political
\nambitions. We are especially disgusted that politicians and aspirants at
\ndifferent levels are creating militias whose sole intent is to visit violence
\non Kenyans. This must be stopped forthwith,\u201d read the statement.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn conclusion they asked the Kenyans not to be
\ndeceived by few elites who use social media to propagate hate messages. \u201cWe
\ncounsel you that the best security against those who are hell-bent on
\ndestroying our national cohesion is to speak out against those messages and
\nreject the leaders who espouse the same,\u201d read the statement adding that \u201cWe
\nespecially urge all our youth to refuse to be used by political actors to cause
\nviolence and chaos in the country.\u201d  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe statement was signed by Kenya Conference of
\nCatholic Bishops (KCCB); Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK); Hindu Council of
\nKenya; National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK); National Muslim Leaders
\nForum (NAMLEF); Organization of African Instituted Churches 9OAIC Kenya);
\nSeventh Day Adventist Church; Shia Ithnasharia Muslim Association (SHIA) and
\nSupreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM).<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nKenya is set for general election on 8th
\nAugust 2017.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBy AMECEA
\nOnline News Reporter<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Religious leaders in Kenya, who recently met under the Kenya Inter Faith Elections Programme (KIEP),…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1387,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/1387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}