May We Dwell In Unity-IRCK
MAY WE DWELL IN UNITY
MESSAGE FROM THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS
DURING
THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
ON
SATURDAY 5th JULY 2014
AT
UHURU PARK, NAIROBI
Protocols
Brothers and Sisters,
- 1. Preamble
We the religious leaders express our gratitude to all of you gathered here at this prayer meeting convened by the Inter Religious Council of Kenya (IRCK) to pray for the nation. We especially thank the Seventh Day Adventist Church for shifting their worship service to Uhuru Park and hosting this gathering in solidarity with all the other faiths.
We believe that on account of this action by our religious, political, administrative and cultural leaders, the divine hand of God will be moved and He will deliver, hear and prosper our land just as He promised in Second Chronicles Chapter 7 Verse 14.
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.
And as we gather to pray, we take this opportunity to thank all Kenyans for the resilience they have demonstrated over the years. Kenyans have stood firm in their resolve amid natural calamities, terrorist attacks, insecurity and negative political and ethnic mobilization. They have survived the ravages of poverty, joblessness and a subdued economy. We believe that as a nation, blessed with our rich ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, we have what it takes to transcend all these challenges and the things that divide us, and recreate our nation on a truly positive paradigm.
We appreciate that we were created together as one nation. We shall swim or sink together. For this reason we are persuaded that as Kenyans we must boldly and intentionally confront all our challenges and together work out redemptive solutions. We must do this while committing the entire process in prayer.
- 2. Our Journey Together
Brothers and Sisters
The religious groups of this country have been involved in Kenya’s national discourse for a long time. This stems from the fact that we believe in God Almighty and draw our unity from Him. We recognize that when human beings occupy the same space, they face the challenge of conflict and the opportunity of cohesive and symbiotic co-existence. While conflict is easy and may lead to destruction, cohesion requires hard work, patience, tolerance, lawful living and mutual respect. It is our prayer that today, Kenyans will choose the path of cohesion and integration as opposed to that of negative stereotypes, blame games, conflict and destruction.
We recognize that our human identity is the most basic feature of all of us. We are all created in the image of God. This is the fundamental truth that we hold as religious leaders, and the truth that empowers us to come together to seek solutions for challenges facing our nation.
This is what has enabled the inter faith responses to matters of national concern in the past years. Examples of these include the Ufungamano Initiative where we together advocated for a new constitution. When Kenya experienced violence after the 2007 General Elections, we came together to appeal for peace among our adherents and to support the national dialogue process. We have undertaken other interventions including prayers, messages of consolation, and provision of relief supplied after national tragedies including the Sachangwan Fire incident, the Westgate Mall Horror, various terrorist attacks, and now when the nation is going through a difficult period.
Yet, while we are agreed on these fundamentals, we affirm the right to differ on competitive political opinions. What we have purposed is to never differ on the fundamentals and the values that we espouse. We always keep in mind that we are Kenyans and we have a mandate to seek the best for our country and uphold unity.
This is the value we appeal to Kenyans to embrace today. Let us hold onto and propagate the fundamental principles of our existence and embrace constructive dialogue and communication as a way of expressing our different perspectives. Our diversity and differences of opinion should be a motivation for dialogue and celebration, not a reason for conflicts and divisions. We should and must endeavor to live within the principles of a well integrated and cohesive nation.
- 3. Facing Ethnicity and Racial Diversity
Brothers and Sisters,
Kenya comprises 43 tribes and other nationals and immigrants who live and work among us. However, ethnic stereotypes remain a reason for suspicion, conflict and negative energies that chain us to a painful past and imprison us from benefiting from our diversity.
In this warped paradigm, every ethnic group and constituency finds a way of transferring responsibility for their poverty, underdevelopment and limitations to the government and other people. While this practice gives us pleasure and comfort, it numbs us from personal and communal responsibility to address our individual and local challenges where the solutions may depend entirely on us. We invite Kenyans to appreciate that this is one of the deliverables of the devolved governments.
Further, our view is that national efforts must be redoubled to create intra and inter ethnic dialogue forums in order to confront the ethnic ghost, and explore the possibility of living together and working through our differences while positively nurturing cooperation. We believe that without this foundation, it will take much longer to build a cohesive nation and free ourselves from political rhetoric, patronage and misuse. We urge the government to channel resources and provide personnel towards the intra and inter ethnic dialogue processes as a national priority.
- 4. Address Poverty
Brothers and Sisters
At the heart of the frustrations of our people and the vulnerability often exploited by politicians is the burden of poverty. While there is infrastructure related poverty, individual and family transformation out of poverty will require a much better focused and concerted intervention.
We therefore urge the government bureaucrats, politicians, the business community and non-state actors including religious leaders to engage in economic empowerment of our people. The culture of hand-outs which politicians so easily exploit perpetuates indignity in our people and undermines national cohesion and integration. It is quite apparent to us that our political class benefits from the poverty of our people and therefore engages in half-hearted economic empowerment, so as to retain their “messianic benevolence” grip on them. This must not be allowed to continue.
It is our commitment as religious leaders that we will aggressively use our structures to address poverty rather than merely join the chorus of grumbling and complaint. We must live by example.
- 5. Tackle Corruption
Brothers and Sisters,
Corruption is pervasive and manifests in every sector of our society. It is at the heart of our insecurity, poverty, joblessness, high cost of investment and doing business, and the general national indiscipline.
It is notable that successive governments in Kenya have campaigned on a platform of zero-tolerance to corruption. As a nation, we challenge our leaders to revisit this matter and appreciate that ordinary Kenyans can only help fight the vice if those in power lead the way. Your Excellency, corruption must be made very costly to those culpable.
Recognizably, this is a matter of the law. Therefore, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary share the blame for allowing this vice to thrive. It is a shame that even the new constitutional dispensation has not reduced the momentum of this vice which continues to drain our national resources and derail development.
As religious leaders, we propose that this should be the next frontier of public agitation and crusading, and we are sorry that both sides of the political divide give us little inspiration that they will be able to deal with the endemic corruption. We challenge His Excellency the President to seek and find radical solutions, however politically unpopular, that may give our people hope that corruption can actually be tackled in this generation.
- 6. Secure All Kenyans
Brothers and Sisters
One of the most important requirements for life is security. Kenyans today are going through a difficult period due to rampant insecurity arising from criminal gangs and terrorism. We recognize that the government bears full responsibility for ensuring the security of all Kenyans and their properties. We therefore challenge the government to urgently put in place measures to address the insecurity. Kenyans must be made to feel safe in their own country.
- 7. The Birth Pangs of a new Constitutional Dispensation
Brothers and Sisters
We the religious leaders appreciate that the strain currently being witnessed in our country arises from the efforts to implement the new constitution. We recognize that the drafters of the constitution were challenged in their capacity to visualize how the various provisions would play out in actual operation. Indeed, we find that the agitation in the political field is a reflection of the efforts by politicians to cope with the ramification of the new dispensation.
Nevertheless, the constitution itself constrains all of us to implement it as it is. We therefore owe it to ourselves as Kenyans to patiently and peacefully navigate the new dispensation while interrogating it to identify areas that are truly un-implementable or which we may by hindsight desire to change until we agree on the timing and mechanisms for review.
On their part, our political leaders need to have patience and magnanimity to handle the losses, challenges and difficulties they experience in implementing the new constitution in a way that does not tear our country apart. Remember that they were mostly agreed in the lead up to the referendum that they could live with the 10 percent unsatisfactory provisions as they mobilized for it.
- 8. The National Soul
Brothers and Sisters
We have called this prayer meeting because in all our faiths, we recognize God as calling us to a high ideal of morality, love for one another and service for those in need, the vulnerable and the helpless.
We accept that as a nation, we have failed one another and we have failed God. We take this moment to repent on behalf of all Kenyans. Further, we are glad that we have some of our leaders with us, acknowledging our national sin, owning it and giving no excuses for it. We must seek God’s forgiveness.
Once again, we make this call for all Kenyans to embrace one another. All tribes in the country and other nationals living in Kenya have a right to be here. They have a right to be accepted, treated equally, and not be subjected to any discrimination.
This can only be achieved by every one of us accepting everyone else, even when we belong to another religion, tribe, race, social class or economic status. We must resist the temptation by our leaders to divide us along political, ethnic, religious and other lines and instead celebrate the rainbow that is Kenya.
And finally, we make a call for us to be a praying and worshipping nation. If we accept to bring God to the center of our national life, to avoid sin and rebellion against Him, He will forgive us our sin, heal and prosper our nation, and bless our families and our people.
Indeed it is time for Prayer!
May We Dwell in Unity!
God bless Kenya!
Signed on this 5th day of July 2014 at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, on behalf of the Inter Religious Council of Kenya.
Sheikh Adan Wachu
Chairman, IRCK
