- Church leaders warn rising political intolerance could threaten peace as the election season gathers momentum.
- They have raised concern over the alleged mobilisation of youths to disrupt political meetings and intimidate opponents.
- The clerics want security and cohesion agencies to act swiftly against violence and inflammatory rhetoric.
Clerics have appealed to politicians across the country to exercise tolerance ahead of next year’s General Election for the sake of the country’s peace.
The clergymen raised alarm over increased political apprehension across the country, noting that confrontational politics have caused deaths of innocent citizens and left a trail of destruction.
They said clashes and property destruction during political activities, such as the disruption of rallies in Homa Bay and Nakuru, have heightened national anxiety.
The Church has also noted that politicians are increasingly mobilising gangs and young people to intimidate opponents, echoing early warning signs seen in past high-stakes election cycles.
Their sentiments come a few days after chaos during the Linda Mwananchi rally in Homa Bay County left four people, including a police officer, dead and property destroyed. The death toll from the violence had risen to four by Tuesday.
Also, a political rally organised by the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), led by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in Nakuru, turned chaotic after a group of youths pelted the leaders with stones.
Gachagua’s faction has since accused the government of sponsoring violence at his meetings, warning that the trend, if not tamed, will breed anarchy in the country.
Clerics warn against political violence
The clerics, under the Federation of Evangelical and Indigenous Christian Churches of Kenya (FEICCK), spoke during a meeting of the Pentecostal Churches women’s caucus at Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya Church in Gatundu Town, Kiambu County, on Tuesday.
Led by Glory Outreach Assembly (GOA) Church Bishop David Thagana, the men of cloth warned Kenyan politicians against engaging in activities that threaten the country’s peace and could plunge it into anarchy.
“We are appealing to our leaders to exercise restraint in their political activities. We are saddened by the trail of political fights we are witnessing where leaders are publicly inciting and spreading hate against each other. We don’t want our country to slip back to the dark days of the post-election violence,” Thagana said.
“The tensions from the ongoing political activities are reviving memories of past election-related conflicts, putting pressure on civic unity and democratic institutions,” he added.
He noted with concern that political acrimony and hate-mongering have spread to social media platforms, where leaders and their supporters are engaging in political squabbles that are detrimental to the country’s peace and harmony.
He called on the government, through relevant authorities including the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and other investigative agencies, to act swiftly and tame the trend. NCIC has separately warned that rising political intolerance and violence could threaten peace and democratic participation.
Youths being drawn into confrontations
Similar sentiments were echoed by Reverend Joyce Munyiri, who singled out the trend of using goons and young people to disrupt meetings.
She noted that selfish politicians are taking advantage of jobless youths in the country and using them to perpetrate apprehension at political gatherings, adding that this trend, if left unchecked, is a recipe for acrimony ahead of next year’s elections.
“We are saddened as mothers and church leaders by the way innocent youths are being used as weapons in political fights. Most of them have lost their lives in the anarchy while others have been left nursing grievous injuries. This must come to an end for our country’s peace,” she said.
She called on mothers to pray and talk to their children against engaging in risky confrontational politics to avoid losing more young innocent lives.
“Let’s get down on our knees and pray for our children and our country. This is the only country we have and we need peace for us to sail through the electioneering period,” she said.
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Resident Anastacia Njoki called on the government to act decisively and tame goonism as well as political unrest as the country enters a crucial phase that will shape the country’s course beyond 2027.
By John Kamau
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