Bishop who took on a brutal regime over Rift Valley killings

• Fearless Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki tells his story with the first instalment of his new biography, ‘A Voice Unstilled: Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki’.

The priests who knew him well also knew that he usually acted on his feet when a burning issue was brought to his attention.

But on this morning, he just sat dazed and listened like one in a trance. Then he took out his pen and started jotting. As the moral disgust of the entire problem receded in Ndingi’s mind, its political and historical contours became visible.

“Something has to be done,” he told one of the priests, “we must make the whole world aware of the goings on. The Church must play its role.”

Unbeknown to the priests, Ndingi’s statement that “something has to be done” was the start of a long and bruising moral crusade against what was to clearly emerge as one of the biggest crimes against humanity to be committed in that part of the country.

Catholic priests

That very day, the Catholic priests of Nakuru Diocese crafted a strongly worded statement on the clashes, calling on the government to protect the lives and property of the communities living in the Rift Valley.

“These are people who acquired their land legally and are ready to be issued with title deeds…their future is now unclear to them.

Though they have been promised security and a return to their land they feel that this guarantee is too little; too late,” the statement read.

The priests wondered if the government was trying to balkanise the nation. “The torching of houses and property appear to have been carefully planned and orchestrated.

In Kunyak, eyewitnesses stated that Kanu officials were actively involved…there is no doubt that these events have caused great damage to trust and confidence among different ethnic groups.

Is this majimboism in action?”

The statement was endorsed by Ndingi as the bishop. It did not, however, make the screaming headlines that other stories from Ndingi had previously done.

Still, it was a handy warning shot and a declaration that the Catholic Church was not about to take a backseat while people were dying and their houses being burnt.

The clashes had now spread to areas bordering Kisumu, affecting three dioceses: Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret. The bishops of the three dioceses, Archbishop Zacheaus Okoth of Kisumu, Ndingi and Cornelius Korir of Eldoret, Archbishop John Njenga of Mombasa, John Njue of Embu and Father Ndikaru wa Teresia, the editor of Mwananchi magazine got together and visited the affected areas.

They were horrified at what they saw.