Briefings From Kenya

Salam,

Just when we thought things are calming down new flare
up was triggered by the shooting two days ago of an
ODM member of Parliament outside his gate in Nairobi.
He was the new MP for Embakasi Constituency in
Nairobi.

Another MP was again shot yesterday by a traffic
police officer near Eldoret town in Kainamoi
Constituency. It is not known whether this was
political but already tension is increasing and two
people today died during riots to protest the
killings.

The United Nation’s Executive Secretary Ban ki Moon
jetted in the country today to meet with the team of
Koffi Annan and an international press Conference is
expected any time this afternoon.

Kenya has put all her hope in the mediated talks and
people have their fingers crossed as they hope a
solution will be reached soon, as the number of the
displaced continue to rise.

Religious organisations are organising reflective
sessions with their faithful. They are reflecting on
the happenings and possible ways of keeping Kenyans
united amid the chaos. They are looking for ways to
diffuse the tension and mistrust among various groups.

Sr. Bridgita

Mombasa Prays for the Country as Week of Christian Unity ends
By Sr. Bridgita Samba Mwawasi
Emotions were high at the Holy Ghost Cathedral yesterday (Friday) as Christians in Mombasa prayed for peace in the country. The prayers for peace were organized by Christian churches in Mombasa. The Friday gathering marked the culmination of a week of prayers for Christian unity during which participants also prayed for the country following the post election violence.

Speaking during the occasion, Catholic Archbishop Boniface Lele said the prayers were held on a day (January 25th) that Catholics the world over celebrate the conversion of St. Paul, known as the apostle of the gentiles. St. Paul was converted from a persecutor of Christians to a staunch defender of the faith. The belief of Christians is that they are a symbol of the body of Christ in whom there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles.

The bishop called for dialogue and cooperation as a way of remaining united amid differences. He also challenged the churches to seek ways of assisting the affected, while appealing to the government to ensure displaced people are resettled and assisted to begin life anew.

Youths from Kiembeni parish moved the crowd to tears as they engaged the audience with questions on the recent happenings in the country that have threatened to tear the country apart. Why is this happening? Was their query that no one could respond to.

“It happened just after Christmas”, narrated one of the youths in a role play. They lamented the fact that Christmas time, supposed to be a time of joy when Christians everywhere celebrate the birth of Christ, turned out to be a time of mourning for Kenya.

Their play was crowned by the symbolic presentation of an effigy of a dove by five year old Hilda Mose. Hilda, who is in baby class at the Great News School in Bamburi was carried by two youths. Unknown to her, her innocent image gently carrying the dove as a symbol of peace will remain in the minds of many people for a very long time. The message she carried is the greatest desire for every Kenyan and the international community: Peace is what all are craving for.

In solidarity with the churches was none other than the Coast Provincial Commissioner, Mr. Ernest Munyi. The P.C thanked the churches for organizing the prayers. He mourned the loss of lives and property. Several areas in Mombasa were affected by the post election violence, he said. They included Likoni, Mikindani, Bombolulu, Mishomoroni and Magongo.

He appealed to Kenyans to tolerate each other and live together as brothers and sisters. The commissioner also thanked the humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross, the Churches, Mosques, and individuals who assisted those affected by the clashes.

The week of prayer for Christian unity is celebrated annually from January 18 -25. This year marks the centenary of this week which was first celebrated in 1908 after being advocated by an Anglican priest, Paul Wattson. The Catholic Church embraced the week of prayer in 1935, advocated by Fr. Paul Couturier of France.
The theme for this year’s week of prayer is based on 1Thess5:17 “Pray without ceasing”,
which stresses the essential role of prayer in the life of Christians as they seek to be united in Jesus Christ. In Mombasa each of the prayer days had a different pastor from a different denomination as the main speaker of the day.

Those who participated in the final day of prayers in Mombasa included Bishop Pius Kagwe of the Methodist Church, Bishop Macdonald Kitwa of the Good News Evangelical Bible Centre, Bishop Joseph Maisha of Ushindi Mkombozi, Bishop Benson Muthama and Bishop Mwaura.

The coordinator of pastoral activities at the archdiocese of Mombasa, Sr. Leonida Katunge said the success of the week can be attributed to the cooperation of the organizers who included the Pentecostal churches in Mombasa, the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, Organization of Africa Instituted Churches, and the Catholic Church, among others.

Sr. Leonida says she is greatly troubled by the recent events and hopes that there will be no more bloodshed in the country as former UN Secretary Koffi Annan spearheads the mediation process between President Mwai Kibaki and leader of the opposition, Raila Odinga. The Electoral Commission of Kenya declared Mr. Kibaki the presidential winner of the December 27th 2007 general elections that are being claimed to have been rigged. Mr. Odinga is insisting he won the presidency and that it was stolen from him. Since the announcement, there has been sporadic violence around the country. More than 600 people have been killed while thousands others have been displaced.

“We need to take care of lives”, asserts Sr. Leonida. “Who will our politicians lead if all the people are killed?” she wonders. The week of prayer for Christian unity was, therefore, an opportune moment for Christians to burry their differences and intercede for the country in one voice.

*ENDS*

Dear Friends and colleagues,

Just a quick note to ask you to continue prayers for our beautiful Kenya. As we continue to try to organize relief food, clothes, blankets, basins medicines etc to the estimated 300,000 displaced we ask for your continual as there seems to be many undercurrents at work which do not harbor well for us all here. We forward our Association of catholic Sisters (AOSK) Statement printed in the Daily Nation on January 18, 2008, which gives the AOSK stance. Some people have asked us to forward it to them so that they may send it to their own contacts. May like to forward to your contacts.

Sincerely

Nuala Bra

Here we are yet to recover from the aftermath of the elections. Despite the efforts to bring the government side and the opposition to table for talks that will end the quagmire, it is the common person who is bearing the brunt.

Koffi Annan is in the country to mediate between President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. We hope and pray that all will be well and that an agreeable position will be reached by the two leaders to stop the bloodshed that is happening and allow Kenya to get back to its life and business.

In some places there has been retaliation by communities whose
Members were attacked elsewhere where they had settled. They in turn are attacking members of other communities in their midst. More and more people continue to lose their lives and get displaced.

It is unfortunate that neither the government nor the opposition seem ready to loosen their stands. Raila Odinga of ODM (opposition Orange Democratic Movement) has held that president Kibaki has to resign for them to be able to talk. He insists he has no faith in the country’s justice system, that’s why he is not ready to place an election petition before the courts.

On the other hand Kibaki insists he won the elections and therefore he is not the aggrieved party so he shouldn’t be extending a hand to the opposition. Some of his ministers have demeaned the Annan visit as “coming to take tea at state house” which has called for reactions, Kenyans asking whether there is no tea in Ghana!

The other unfortunate thing is the fact that the government issued a state ban on any live broadcasts here in the country. Now the Media Council has given the ministry concerned 24 hours to reverse the decree failure to which the council warns of dire consequences. A few hours remain as this done yesterday afternoon.

Now the Election Commission says Kibaki won the elections and the media is distorting facts. The Chairman of the commission has been on record saying he did not know who won the elections. If you can read today’s Nation newspaper online, see the story on page …

People here are no longer interested in who won or lost the elections. What they want is assurance on their security and return of peace and calm. There are claims that each of the candidates: Raila and Kibaki rigged in their respective regions. But the whole country believes there ware anomalies in the tallying of presidential votes.

The fact that president Kibaki appointed, as his vice, Kalonzo Musyoka who came third in the presidential race with less than a million votes has led others to believe that the rigging may have been done even before elections.

People are calling for a rerun, but this may not go down well with some quarters. Others are calling for a power sharing agreement. Still others think it is in a new constitution that a lasting solution may be found, and what better time than now to get a disinterested team as a transitional government as we pave way for a new constitutional dispensation and a fresh elections in two year’s time?

All in all, many people are caught in between. We do not know for sure whether we can get to towns before we are ambushed. Many people are resorting to staying indoors. But work has to continue. Tension is rife and many are not able to trust their next door neighbour, with whom they had been friends for decades.

The education sector has really been affected. It is January, schools have opened but children cannot get back to their schools. The most hit areas are in regions where hundreds of people had to flee their homes and a number of schools were torched. Now those children who were learning in regions other than their home regions fear for their lives and many of them are now seeking admittance to schools within their own regions!

It is PEACE that we pray for, as we hope that the Annan led talks will bear fruits that will last.