President Opens AMECEA Conference

Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

29 June 2011

Nairobi — The Kenya government has no intention of gagging the church’s voice, President Mwai Kibaki has said.

Instead, the state and the church, the president said, must view one another as partners in a crusade to improve the lives of the citizens.

The president struck a conciliatory note as he opened the 17th AMECEA plenary in Nairobi today, in the wake of growing criticism of the Kenyan government by the church. Of late, the church in Kenya has come out strongly to criticize the government over a number of issues, including new appointments of government officials and the implementation of the new constitution.

Last month, the church came out to criticise the proccess of the appointment of a new chief Justice. The choice of Justice Mutunga as Kenya’s new Chief Justice elicited a sharp response from the church, which queried Mutunga’s appointment. The church has also been on the frontline in raising concern over the slow implementation of the new constitution.

But addressing a gathering of Catholic bishops and delegates drawn from Eastern Africa today, the Kenya’s president said the church had every right to correct the state on various issues. The government, he said, appreciates and respects the views of the church on various issues.

‘As spiritual leaders in our society, you shoulder the responsibility of pointing the right way forward, correcting us when we go wrong, and ensuring that we remain God fearing men and women,’ said the president.

The president praised the church for keeping watch over the implementation of a new constitution that was formally promulgated in August last year.

In the same forum, the president urged church leaders in eastern Africa to help resolve the crisis in Sudan over the Abyei region. The church in the region, he said, can play a major role in easing growing tensions between South Sudan and its northern neighbour over the Abyei, by preaching tolerance, respect for the rule of law and Justice.

Both South Sudan and the North have laid claim to the oil rich region of Abyei, which is expected to decide whether to join the North or the south in a referendum.

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