Peace efforts suffer blow with Bishop Korir’s death

The death of Bishop Cornelius Korir on Monday last week has dealt a big blow to peace efforts in the banditry prone North Rift region.

As head of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret, Bishop Korir spent considerable time preaching peace among pastoralist communities that often fight over animals and pasture and also reconciling communities following conflicts that emanate from disputed elections.

“Three quarters of my life has been about peace-building,” the bishop said in a June, 2015 interview with the Nation. His episcopal ministry in Eldoret lasted 27 years.

TRIBAL

“The 1992 clashes were political violence coupled with [negative] ethnicity as the political parties then were rallied along tribal lines,” he added.

Indeed, Bishop Korir was instrumental in setting up a church at the foot of war-torn Kapsait Hill which saw guns go silent.

The bishop will be remembered for risking his life for the good of the society.

At the height of the 2007/2008 post-election violence, Bishop Korir literally blocked some armed youth who were baying for the blood of innocent women and children fleeing the violence.

“The best respect we can accord the bishop is for our people to embrace peace and co-existence,” said Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos.

“It will be difficult to get someone else to fit into Bishop Korir’s shoes,” he added.

CATTLE DIPS

To help ease the tension and stop the fighting between the Marakwet and Pokot, Bishop Korir led the Catholic Church in building schools and cattle dips along the common border between the two communities.

“We also dug two dams in East Pokot, and donors came in to utilise River Lelan, which is shared by the two tribes,” said Bishop Korir in the interview.

“By good luck the foundation run by (American billionaire) Bill Gates helped put up milk cooling plants, which helped both Pokots and Marakwets concentrate on milk production,” he explained in a recent interview.

His efforts saw the fighting stop with Lelan now being the leading producer of milk with up to 20,000 litres of the commodity daily.

“They have even formed a co-operative society jointly, and members of both communities are sitting on its management board. It’s the most successful peace-building initiative that I’ve been involved in. The Pokots and Marakwets are earning as much as Sh20 million a month from milk production.”

EMPOWER PEOPLE

Bishop Korir always maintained that through dialogue much has been achieved among the warring communities; the subject of a book he wrote in 2014, Amani Mashinani (Peace at the Grassroots).

The fourth-born in a family of eight, Bishop Korir believed the best way to keep the peace in northern Kenya is to empower the people and bring development to them.

“When they have something to do, when they have projects, then peace will come,” he said

But while bringing prosperity to the Pokot and Marakwet neighbours remains his highest point, Bishop Korir’s lowest was dealing with the post-election violence of 2007-08.

“In 2008, I had to go from location to location bringing people together. I organised dialogue between the Kalenjin and Kikuyu people at the cathedral, and our major rallying point was to call for a ceasefire that would allow farmers to plant as it was the planting season.”

Bishop Korir and the Catholic Church then helped acquire seed, fertiliser and inputs to plant 1,500 acres of maize in the midst of the clashes.

“We were planting and talking,” he recalled. “It was all about consensus building, and so we also trained peace-builders to own the process.”

GUNS

He also accommodated about 10,000 IDPs in the Eldoret cathedral’s compound.

In recent days Bishop Korir had organised several peace meetings between warring pastoralist communities, coming up with a number of resolutions, among them the just-concluded peace caravans that brought together leaders and opinion shapers from Turkana, West Pokot, Baringo, Samburu and Baringo counties.

The bishop ventured into the remotest parts of the North Rift where the fighting was going on which saw guns go silent.

Bishop Korir took over leadership of Eldoret Diocese from Bishop John Njenga after the latter was transferred to Mombasa.

Former Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgei recalled how Bishop Korir encouraged him after he was named among six people responsible for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the 2007/2008 post-election violence which rocked the country.

“He encouraged me a lot that I will be cleared of the charges. Bishop Korir was a very humble person. He mingled with the ordinary and the mighty in the society. Death has robbed the country of an astute peace maker,” said Mr Kosgei who was later cleared by The Hague based court.

GREAT PATRIOT

Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter who conveyed President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto’s condolence message saluted bishop Korir as a great patriot who never shied away from talking about bad things in the country.

“We will miss him a lot. We learnt of his death with great shock. He was a great man of God. He was above tribalism,” said Mr Keter.

“He wanted to see all Kenyans united. We should honour him by coexisting peacefully as a country,” he added.

The chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Philip Anyolo, said that a public funeral service would be held at the Eldoret sports club before the burial.

Bishop Anyolo, who is also the head of Homa Bay Catholic Diocese, said that the church would give Bishop Korir a sendoff befitting a hero because of the role he played in peace and reconciliation efforts.

“Bishop Korir stood for peace. Even in death we are sure that he still stands for the same. He had great plans for this country but God had better plans for him,” said Bishop Anyolo.

CRISIS

In his message of condolence sent to news rooms, former USA Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger said the death had deeply saddened him.

“Bishop Korir was, and will remain in the hearts of Kenyans, a hero and patriot, as well as a man of profound faith. His sincere humility was an example to everyone,” said Mr Ranneberger.

“The insights which he shared with me helped shape my response to the post-election crisis of 2007-8. I was inspired by the leadership he exerted on behalf of ordinary Kenyans,” added the former envoy.

Bishop Korir was a big admirer of the mass media, hence his decision in October, 2013, to found the Upendo FM radio station that broadcasts from his diocesan office on 89.4 FM in the North Rift.

Upendo FM was recently voted the best Catholic radio station in the country.

For his peace-keeping and peace-building efforts, Bishop Korir was in 2006 awarded the Moran of the Burning Spear by President Mwai Kibaki and also earned the Milele Lifetime Award in 2009 from the National Commission of Human Rights.

In 2012, Moi University conferred upon him the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters.

Before being ordained in 1990 as Bishop of Eldoret, Bishop Korir had been ordained priest by the then Nairobi Archbishop Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki on November 6, 1982, and served in Molo, Kituro and Nakuru before taking up the role of Vocations Director and Episcopal Vicar at the Diocese of Kericho.