Let’s reason together, says new Mombasa archbishop
Archbishop Martin Kivuva: “Bad people are bad people. They don’t bear a religion.” FILE PHOTO |
What you need to know:
- ‘We started with Shabaab attacks; now our sons are being conscripted’
- Well aware of the security challenges at the Coast, former Machakos Bishop Kivuva seeks unity.
Pope Francis’ recent appointment of former Bishop of Machakos Diocese Martin Kivuva as Archbishop of Mombasa heralds a new dawn in religious and inter-community relations in a region that has been in the grip of terror attacks and religious radicalisation.
His appointment follows the resignation of Archbishop Boniface Lele in November 2013.
Archbishop Kivuva, who has 36 years’ experience in priesthood, returns to Mombasa where he was first ordained in 1978.
He is well aware of the security challenges in the area, and he is going there with a call for unity as captured in his “Court of Arms” motto: That all May be One.
“I take over the work of shepherding God’s people in Mombasa at a time when our country and the world are faced with myriad challenges,” Archbishop Kivuva in a farewell press conference in his office in Machakos on February 2.
“While every part of Kenya is experiencing some security and social challenges, we in Mombasa are experiencing the same at a different level,” he said.
He traces the problem of religious indoctrination and radicalisation to the special place Mombasa holds in history.
“Mombasa is not only a port of entry for goods, services and people to Kenya, East and Central Africa. The Christian faith came to Kenya and beyond through Mombasa,” he said.
PARADIGIM SHIFT
The archbishop says the current crisis in Mombasa is not only about religion.
“There are many facets. The youths being used are sometimes radicalised. It’s a question of the world getting crazier. We started with Al-Shabaab attacking us from Somalia, but there is a paradigm shift with our own sons being conscripted into these groups with the lure of money,” he says.
Because it’s a complex matter, he added, it has to be handled in a complex way. He sees coercion and the use of force by security organs as not helping in winning the war.
The archbishop does not see the problem as being caused by a particular religion.
“Bad people are bad people. They don’t bear a religion,” the soft-spoken but firm archbishop says.
