Archbishop Maurice Muhatia (left) along with other members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops at Clergy Home, Queen of Apostle Mission Parish, along Thika Road on November 14, 2024.
Catholic bishops last week stood true to their calling with a powerful State of the Nation statement. They pointed out many of the things going wrong under President William Ruto’s administration, including broken promises, the return of unchecked corruption, a culture of lies, failing projects and human rights abuses.
The statement issued by the Kenya Conference of Catholic bishops recalls the period during the struggle for democracy when the Church was the conscience of the nation and the voice of the voiceless. Many remember with nostalgia brave clerics such as Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki of the Catholic Church, Alexander Muge, Henry Okullu and David Gitari of the Anglican Church, and Timothy Njoya of the Presbyterian Church who fearlessly challenged the repressive, single-party monolith.
Without a powerful clergy teaming up with other interest groups to lead the struggle against dictatorship, transition to a democratic nation would have been much slower.
Along the way, however, the Church clearly lost its voice. Under presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta, beneficiaries of the activism that birthed multi-party democracy, the Church went mute. The Church seemed to hold that the transition to democracy was an end in itself, ignoring the fact that there were still troubling issues that called for it to speak out.
Bribed into silence
Under President William Ruto, things got even worse because important elements of the Church were seemingly co-opted into the feeding trough. Yes, churches were bribed into silence and became co-conspirators in crimes against the people.
It took the Gen Z revolt in June to wake up the Church, and the nation. The Catholics, as well as mainstream protestant denominations, realised that they had abandoned their calling, and started to speak out in defence of their people. The bishops' statement was a continuation of the re-awakened prophetic testimony.
Read: Nyanza clerics threaten to mobilise civil disobedience over alleged oppression by Ruto government
But the government, in typical fashion, hit back with a series of statements that were big on denials, evasion, obfuscation and even outright insults rather than honest and intelligent responses to the issues raised. The dysfunctional State communications and propaganda machinery coordinated a series of statements from different government ministries and departments that were far from convincing.
The hackneyed messaging was in many ways a reminder of the bygone epoch when any criticism of government was met by furious ripostes from two-bit politicians competing to outdo each other with the most violent rhetoric.
It is to his credit, however, that after the initial unwise tirades, President Ruto sat back, reflected and crafted a more refined response. He said, in a nutshell, that he had heard, and was ready to engage further. He knows he cannot fight the Church.
However, beating a tactical retreat is one thing, and acting on issues raised is quite another. It was not too long ago that President Ruto abandoned an obdurate stance and responded to the Gen Z protests with dramatic shelving of the contentious Finance Bill 2024 and the dissolution of the Cabinet. We know that it was merely a tactical retreat as he plotted to regain political initiative. And he did rebound powerfully by acquiring the support of opposition leader Raila Odinga whose allies were accommodated in a reconstituted “bread-based” government.
A neutered Raila and a neutralised Gen Z movement have revealed a Ruto back to factory settings. The punitive taxation proposals that sparked the revolt are set to be rammed down our throats once again. So are unpopular, unworkable and clearly corrupt policies and projects being pushed through just because a few individuals close to power are personally benefiting.
Headless chicken
Political police squads are still actively abducting, torturing, illegally confining and killing regime critics.
With Raila in bed with the government (and hypocritically holding on to opposition leadership) there is no opposition to speak of, especially with the remaining leadership of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition largely running around like a headless chicken.
Hence the need for the Church to team up with civil society, professional associations, media, industry lobbies, progressive political voices, the Gen Z movement and other interest groups to act as the people’s watchdogs.
What Kenya needs most right now is a renewal of the spirit that drove the fight against single-party dictatorship and the evolution to a new constitutional order.
Let us be clear, this is not about some vapid “Ruto Must Go” agenda. We have a government legitimately in place and must acknowledge that the choices we made at the last elections came with consequences. This is simply about keeping the government in check, remaining eternally vigilant, and re-examining our own role in the installation of this regime, and lessons learnt that will inform our choices in 2027.
[email protected]; @MachariaGaitho.
