Kenya churches decline Govt talks

Kenyan church leaders on Monday rejected fresh efforts by the Government to revive talks aimed at striking consensus on the Proposed Constitution.

Speaking after a meeting at Ufungamano House in Nairobi, the church leaders vowed to soldier on with their campaign against the document ahead of the August 4 referendum.

“We have not been approached by the Government to talk. We will only talk if the Government demonstrates its seriousness by stopping the referendum, agreeing to amend the contentious clauses and give to Kenyans a good document,” said Canon Peter Karanja, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK).

Last week, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka disclosed that the Government had revived efforts to reach consensus with Christian leaders over the Proposed Constitution ahead of the referendum.

The VP had said the Government was planning to talk to the church in order to iron out contentious issues in the document.

Mr Musyoka said the Government would be represented in the talks by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Water Resources minister Charity Ngilu.

Dialogue

The Government could not afford to close the doors on dialogue, the VP warned.

But Canon Karanja stated that the church was not ready to be subjected to a “wild goose chase” by the Government and asked it to demonstrate its commitment to such dialogue by suspending the referendum so that the document is amended.

The church leaders also demanded that the Committee of Experts (CoE) be charged with promoting hate speech by including clauses likely to cause ethnic conflict.

The church leaders cited several clauses in the chapter on land which they claimed were likely to trigger conflicts between various communities in the country if the Proposed Constitution is passed during the referendum.

They cited clauses touching on community land, ancestral land and the National Land Commission which they warned would stir up tribal conflict if the new law is passed.

“For setting our nation on the path of self destruction, the Committee of Experts should be made to take responsibility,” the church leaders stated.