Senior religious leaders drawn from the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) in a meeting held at Ufungamano House, Nairobi, has offered to broker a peaceful solution to the dispute over the ongoing public exchange between National Police Service (NPS), Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in relation to elections.
The religious leaders were meeting today, under the theme, “Embrace dialogue and transparency for peaceful general elections,” said that the security of the nation and elections is very crucial and should not be processed through the media.
“We advise the IEBC and the National Police Service (NPS) to dialogue over the subject issue with dignity, national respect and public trust. Church leaders are ready and available to mediate,” Right Rev.John Oballa.
Rev.John Oballa who is the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Ngong and the chairman of Catholic Justice and Peace department called upon every Kenyan to resist and refuse to participate in any action or communication that could lead to hatred, tension and violence.
“We must not destroy our country just so that some people get into positions of power,” he said.
The leaders reiterated the need for a desired peaceful, free, fair and credible elections noting that the only way was if all the stakeholders and institutions involved in the electoral process played their rightful role in a transparent and accountable manner.
Their call for dialogue and transparency for peaceful general elections comes a day after DP Ruto came to the defence of the embattled Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and faulted the Director of Criminal Investigations of alleged meddling with the preparations of the forth coming General poll.
NCCK General Secretary Chris Kinyanjui on his part, called on the institutions and agencies that have a role to play in the general elections to embrace and exercise transparency.
“Kenyans have a right to know what every institution is doing on their behalf, and so all institutions must enhance their strategic public communications since transparency will definitely promote synergy of the engagements of their different stakeholders,” he stated.
The Church leaders spoke as the electoral Body and DCI are embroiled in a bitter exchange over the arrest of three foreigners from Venezuela who allegedly jetted into the country with undeclared IEBC materials.
The IEBC had on Thursday evening protested the arrest of the three Venezuelans at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport saying in a statement by chairman Wafula Chebukati that police were unduly harassing the foreigners while executing a contract by the elections agency.
