Flurry of activity over nun event

What you need to know:

  • That place is Gikondi area in Nyeri County. Pope Francis has already assigned a representative who will preside over the ceremony expected to attract about 300,000 people from around the world.
  • The rehabilitation is underway, but church officials and residents say work is proceeding at a snail’s pace.
  • But some residents are worried the town may not adequately exploit the visit for economic gain since Nyeri town literally goes to sleep by 9.30 p.m. Most restaurants, shops, butcheries and money transfer service shops close as early as 7.30 p.m.

In less than 25 days, Nyeri County will be hosting an international event that has thrown the county government into a quandary over how to make it a success.

Everything started with the Vatican announcement last June of the beatification ceremony of an Italian-born Consolata Missionary nun Sister Irene Stefani in Kenya on May 23 at the place where she lived and died.

That place is Gikondi area in Nyeri County. Pope Francis has already assigned a representative who will preside over the ceremony expected to attract about 300,000 people from around the world.

Beatification is the step in the process of the Roman Catholic Church that declares a person blessed as he or she approaches canonisation and sainthood.

With days to the event, both the county and national governments seem to have realised the magnitude of the event and what it means to the economy.

In the past week various high-powered delegates meetings have been held in Nyeri town all with one agenda: How to make the event a success in all respects.

Several appeals have been made by the Catholic Church in Nyeri to speed up the rehabilitation of various roads leading to Gikondi Catholic Parish in Mukurwe-ini to make it easier for visitors to access the site. The beatification ceremony will begin with a vigil Mass on May 22 it the rural town of Gikondi.

PATHETIC

“This road (Gatitu-Mukurwe-ini) is in a pathetic condition, and some international delegates have started arriving in readiness for the event. They are coming to see where their leaders (seniors) will be accommodated,” said Father Peter Githinji, a priest in the Archdiocese of Nyeri overseeing the preparations.

The rehabilitation is underway, but church officials and residents say work is proceeding at a snail’s pace.

Some church delegates from Vatican City, the United States, Spain, Mozambique and Tanzania have visited Nyeri to see the levels of preparedness.

“We are just worried about the state of the roads in that part of Mukurwe-ini. Very little has been done despite both the national and county governments promising us to do something ahead of the event,” the church officials told the Sunday Nation.

But some residents are worried the town may not adequately exploit the visit for economic gain since Nyeri town literally goes to sleep by 9.30 p.m. Most restaurants, shops, butcheries and money transfer service shops close as early as 7.30 p.m.

But the department of land announced they had started registering and licensing residents who want to host guests in their homes to ease the accommodation crisis. “Only those fulfilling the set standards will be accorded a licence to receive and accommodate guests,” said Mr John Maina, the county executive secretary for land and infrastructure.