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’.

“Where are you going?” Njenga asked the old, haggard and scared woman. “I don’t know?” she replied.

The bishops consulted and decided to take the woman in their car. They went all the way to Olenguruoni parish where they left the woman under the care of the parish priest.

“We as pastors must speak out,” they proclaimed, quoting the book of Luke (19:40) “I tell you, if these keep silent the stones will cry out.”

Getting back to the Kenya Catholic Secretariat, they crafted a statement challenging the government to break its silence and bring the clashes to an end.

Then they cobbled together a collection of other bishops from other denominations with the intention of seeking an appointment with the president.

In Nairobi, they called the Head of the Civil Service, Prof Philip Mbithi, and asked him to arrange an appointment for them to see the president.

Prof Mbithi was reluctant, probably sensing that the bishops were up to their rabble-rousing activities again. “If we do not see the president today, we will demonstrate at the Holy Family Basilica tomorrow,” they told him.

Mbithi realised that things were serious and that the clerics perhaps meant every word they said. He hastily organised a meeting for the bishops.

All the ecumenical bishops met the president at State House that day at six in the evening. The meeting, Njenga recalls, was tense.

After Archbishop Okoth read the statement prepared by the bishops, Archbishop Njenga addressed the president. “Your Excellency, people are dying, we saw planes dropping arrows in the area and the situation is serious.”

Moi hit the roof. “Bishop Njenga, I think you are exaggerating,” he thundered. “The pilots you are referring to are Kikuyus. How can they drop arrows that would kill their people?” he asked.

“Your Excellency, given money they will do anything, even if they are Kikuyus.”

Things were hotting up. The meeting was tense. The bishops were angry. The president was also annoyed at the audacity of the bishops.

Silence descended on the room; no one wanted to speak and no one knew who would speak next and what they would say. The president fixed his gaze on the bishops.

All of a sudden one of the bishops rose to speak. He began to thank the president for the good deeds he had done for the country, pouring profuse praise on the Head of State.