Anglican Church in Kenya Backs Catholic Bishops in Condemning Government's Growing "culture of lies”

“Let the political class and those in government come down from their high horses, listen for once, rather than seemingly perpetuate the commonplace culture of impunity. The governed do not need lectures but services and honest engagement,” Archbishop Ole Sapit says.

The ACK leader has urged the Kenyan government to “concentrate on providing leadership in a meaningful way and first tackle the myriad of problems that are bedeviling the country.”

In their November 14 conference, the Catholic Bishops faulted the government for its failure to settle debts owed to Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) despite previous calls religious entities had made on the matter.

They also highlighted other issues they said that they unceasingly raised in the past with the government, including over-taxation of Kenyans, the hiking of the Missionary work permits, and youth unemployment.

Regulations of the Education system especially the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC), university loan scheme, and the failure to constitute the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) are also among the issues that the Bishops said the government had ignored.

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Catholic Bishops in Kenya also expressed their concern about the increasing cases of abductions, torture, and killings linked to the June Generation Z (Gen Z)-led protests, as well as the emerging trend of femicide in the East African country.

In the November 18 statement, the Anglican Church also weighs on these issues as raised by the Catholic Bishops, saying, “It cannot be gainsaid that the new university funding model has not worked. Public universities are barely functioning. Perpetual delays in releasing capitation has continued to undermine the efficient running of public schools.”

“It cannot be gainsaid that the transition from National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) has been anything but smooth, causing Kenyans untold suffering,” Archbishop Ole Sapit says.

He says that it is undeniable that Kenyans have suffered “unexplained abductions, forced disappearances and unresolved murders”, and adds, “Who should be held responsible if not the government?”

The ACK Archbishop says that Kenyans are struggling with punitive taxes, unemployment crises, and a less-than-ideal business environment.

He further says, “It cannot be gainsaid that the most vulnerable Kenyans have experienced inhuman evictions with no viable alternative to their already precarious living arrangements.”

Amid the current circumstances in the East African nation, the ACK archbishop says that all that is needed is for the government to be transparent, be accountable, have time bound plans and interventions to address the situation, especially medical care, which he says cannot wait.

“It is time the government realized that too much talk and open-ended promises will not do. The ancient wisdom still holds true that: “When the rulers are good, the people are happy, when the rulers are evil, the people complain,” he says in reference to the book of Proverbs.

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.