THE RELIGIOUS SHOULD MOVE FROM THE SACRISTY TO THE PODIUM

MOVE FROM THE SACRISTY TO THE PODIUM TO BUILD PEACE AND RECONCILIATION. It has been a come go talk, all that revolves around the 27th Dec. 2007, then follow the fracas that ripped off the better part of our country, due to the failure of transparency among the people who had been mandated to give back to the Kenyan community what they had voted for in a clean way. By this I by no means say that the results of the 2007 general election were blurred but I infer to the fact that whatever led to the fracas was the inefficiency of the officers to respond to the plea the communities were asking for. The schism that occurred at the KICC among the officers some saying that everything was going on well meanwhile others crying foul, could in a way have lead to the flaring up of tension. Well when hell broke lose one could ask, is this the Kenya we have been living in? When friends turned against friend, neighbour against neighbour, family against family, it was time one could believe that the gospel was being fulfilled as at the real coming of the lord. Where brother woke up against brother, mother against daughter etc. but who is to blame in this case isn’t the question at hand, because the damage was done now what remains to be meditated is how to build a new on the ruins. As we begin to think about how to recuperate the glory we have lost as a country, we should first recognise the fact that we are not immune to falling into decadence and subsequent loose the great pride of being the regions island of peace. Yes the island of peace that whoever talked of Kenya talked of it with a lot of reverence for its fame as a home for the refugees. We were beginning to move up the scale, after a long time of having been submerged into poverty. The poverty that loomed in the air throughout the decades while we were under one party umbrella, yes though we were under an iron fist of Mr. Moi, the country had little disintegration. But came the democracy, a democracy that seemed to be a nightmare to many, simply because there was no real catechesis on what it was all about. Was Kenya still immature to embrace the supposed democracy? or was it pushed down her throat, meanwhile the digestion of the whole thing caused retaliation from the society? I don’t want to believe that while the conception of the democracy in Kenya was taking place, its bringing to birth to reality took place at the same time. It is not the case, because the fight dates down years before the paving way to the multiparty system that the old man Moi amid resistances and meditation gave in to the same. Back to our 2007 vote, a shame vote not only to the politicians but to all Kenyans beginning with the leaders, religious leaders being in the forefront. I could imagine some of our religious leaders deep in the sacristy praying the holly rosary meanwhile the big bulls were breaking the bones of the fragile calf bull. The pastor with his hands crossed admiring the ox break the legs of the feeble old cow, in the name of they after all don’t belong to me, they belong to the master. Only to wakeup and speak against the big bulls after the damage was done. I think the church took quite long to intervene to avoid the anarchy. In November, it was the time when I was down on holidays, this seemed to me marvellous, roads were under construction, people no longer filling the matatus, there was order almost in all parts, and the country was different. Yes there to could be heard very positive politics, among them the possibility to sell the ideas to masses waiting to get to know the manifesto of each candidate. This was but very building and anyone could imagine that this wasn’t Kenya. The standard of politics was every time seeming more advanced. Well it couldn’t be compared with the older days when politics were full of abuses and shamming one another. It was a great light that democracy was coming to maturity. On the earlier dates before the general elections I was struck by one very unfamiliar TV advert. This advert seemed to me a bit misplaced, and I really couldn’t understand what it all had to do with the general elections. For those who come from the rural like me who only have the possibility of viewing one tv channel can bare witness that the advertising of the 1982 coup attempt and the images of young men and women up in arms against one community was but too much. I was a bit astonished to see this being aired and seemed so normal, to the extend that I had to ask what it all meant the choice of a leader with the images of the 1982 coup attempt in our country. We are the people to vote and not the old guards, we have no idea of what the coup attempt was and thus that history had no place for some of us who were going to cast our vote the first, second or third time. Unfortunately I believe part of the mess that took place in Kenya in January was partly due to the bad psychological poisoning from such media. I happened to visit Eldoret town sometime during and after the bad wind it was so pathetic to see the suffering that people were undergoing in the refugee concentration camps. There was no refugee camp for example at the St. Johns cathedral but due to necessity that was the only safe place people of God had to take refuge. I could imagine what Bishop Cornelius Korir was undergoing, sleepless nights, of course, because under his nose was at stake thousands of human life. Where to get the food to feed this people was of course the preoccupation, but the big preoccupation was how the peaceful community could turn to animosity. The same applies to Bishop Maurice Crowley of kitale, who too suffered a bigger stroke seeing his flock take refuge due to the elections dispute and weeks later the deployment of the military who went to smoke out the SLDF in his jurisdiction. Those who didn’t get displaced due to the vote dispute were later on forced refuge due to the military operation, who struck all without scrutiny. The images seen as a result of the operation are but supra humane, brutal and unjustifiable. It is not a mater of impartiality, no, it is a mater of being humane. Now up to Nakuru another flagellated community, I can’t imagine the suffering the people of nakuru underwent, from January to February. At least in Eldoret where things seemed to have been real hell life could be seen going on though not in its fullness. Yes I vividly remember when time had come for me to go trough Nakuru for Nairobi it was a real purgatory. The 24th of January, life was moving but serenely in Eldoret and anyone could think that the whole place was the same, moving to Nakuru through Ravine, Kabrak everything seemed so cool, there were no sign to call for panic. On arriving Nakuru things were no functioning on well as one could imagine. The roads were blocked, there was fire lit in every place, people were up in crude arms, it was fire again. Anyone who was in Nakuru this time round could imagine hell, everywhere it was adrenaline to the highest. Yes I saw my world almost come to an end. First I don’t know anyone in town, no where to take refuge, I even don’t know where a police station is situated nothing at all. I didn’t know whether I was on the eastern or western part of the town, just to say that I was practically lost. I remember my dad calling me at around 4pm asking whether I was already in Nairobi and definitely the answer was yes I am already in Nairobi. It was a lie and I confess it, because I never wanted him to undergo the same way of the cross as I did. Yes I could put myself in place of many other people who lived in anguish for long not knowing how there kids were, and knowing very well that life was at stake. This is the night Kaptembwa was on fire, I had secured myself a Conner in one of the security station, yes at the veranda, I used my bag as a pillow, in it I had all I owned, my passport, transport, clothes, my breviary, and some books. The night was long and torturous, I could hear people scream for help and I felt desperate. I felt but impotent, wishing I could do something for them but I had nothing at my disposal after all I too was in need to reach to Nairobi, and the possibility of arriving there was dwindling every minute. Leaving Nakuru was for me a miracle. I could imagine what a task the pastor of this population was undergoing; it must have been a whole scene of Gethsemane. When trying to imagine his flock butchering one another like beasts in the jungle. Sad enough is the fact that Nakuru now has been left without a pastor. As much as I honour the holly see and most particular the Bishop of Rome Benedict XVI, and of course revering to the promotion of the immediate ordinary of Nakuru diocese as the archbishop of Nyeri, the Nakuru Diocese shouldn’t be left alone with out a pastor given her volatile conditions. In has much as the problem was affecting particular ecclesiastical jurisdictions, there was a general silence from the other unaffected Dioceses. Or if at all there was some mention, they were more political call than faith. Now as we the faithful look upon the church leaders to kick off the restoration and the process of reconciliation, we too should play the part of facilitating the process. Building the base where by the message of reconciliation may truly be felt by the affected. It is important to have at heart that the affected cant obviously have the serenity to respond instantly on the call, but if the climate is laid on the possibility of rebuilding together, then the process the church leaders are trying to employ will be fructiferous. It is my prayer that the lesson learnt in the failure of our leader to maintain peace, and the anarchy lived, may help us build a future, knowing that the future can mean to be blurred and dangerous. Yes we have been glorying in peace, being a role model to the regional peace process but it seems we have also forgotten ourselves so much. I believe that charity should begin at home. That charity should spring from the womb of the church to the community. We should rise above the tribal differences but shouldn’t forget our cultural values that for decades have held the dignity of an integrated society. We have lived as brothers and sisters respecting our cultural differences, thus the political differences shouldn’t in anyway cloud our mind to the point of steering off the moral values passed on to us by our fathers, for that is what is truly God given. This values truly include the value of human life, which is but a denominator to all cultures a cross the divide. As we begin to look forward to the road to reconciliation, let’s let the humane spirit lead us towards God. We shall only realise this if we move from own cocoons to meet the needs of the other. It is my prayer that the religious, men and women and those in the presbyterium may too move from the sacristies, fold their cassocks to the waist and move to give hand in the reconstruction of a new community. The religious men and women too should be vocal in as it concerns political spheres. Being the conscience of the community, they should take the front line to steer off all kind of divisive politics. It is in this that we give testimony to the religious commitment we have taken as religious consecrated people. Gone are the days when we sat and fold our hands for fear of clearing off the air until there is a real problem. Lets us learn to call a spade a spade and spare the world trouble, than to call it a small spoon and light-up the whole world, I thing the lord wont even be on our side. Well let the 2007 political sphere reawakens in us the need to stand firm and say No! when it is necessary for the good of the kingdom. May God save Kenya. Kiptum Too