Attempts by the religious leaders to reconcile President William Ruto and his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua failed after Parliament rushed the impeachment process.
This was revealed by Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit during a church service in Garissa town on Sunday.
According to the Archbishop, a group of religious leaders agreed and reached out to the president and his deputy to defuse the political tension, but their plan fell flat.
“We have had a structured process of reconciling our political leaders in the past, but in this case, things were hurriedly done by politicians, denying us the opportunity to reach a truce,” he said.
“Every time we planned to reach out to either of the two, their troops were always a step ahead with the feud— making it difficult for us to agree on the process. We have left everything to God to give us a solution because all is possible with prayers.”
On October 6, Catholic Bishop Antony Muheria, Archbishop Sapit, SDA leader Samsom Nyaberi, and leaders of the evangelical churches met President William Ruto.
It was on the same day Mr Gachagua sought forgiveness from his boss and MPs at a church service, only to deny the same at a press briefing hours before the National Assembly impeached him.
“Our country is not politically stable due to the impeachment process of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. This has caused a lot of reactions from different parts of the country,” Sapit said.
Also working against the religious leaders’ plan was the rushed public participation in the impeachment, done within two days.
Mr Sapit said reconciliation between the President and his deputy remained the best option for finding a political truce in the country.
“Reconciliation is always the best option for our country because we can sit at the table and solve all the outstanding issues,” he said.
According to the Archbishop, the process worked for President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 2018, and even between Retired President Uhuru and Dr Ruto in 2021.
“Currently, the situation between the two leaders is beyond the church. We have been locked out since the issue is before the court and at the Senate. The current happenings will not help us as Kenyans,” he said.
“We have serious issues, including sorting out the health services, food for the people, and confusion in the education system, which should be tackled instead of having the DP impeachment as a priority,” he said.
As the process heads to the Senate, Mr Sapit called on the senators to be sober enough and look into all the allegations in detail.
“The Senate, being the Upper house, has been given an enormous responsibility to look at what the National Assembly has done. It is one way of looking at the checks and balances. It's my hope and prayer that they will handle the whole exercise soberly,” he said
He urged politicians to lead the process of auditing every elected leader, just like the National Assembly has done with DP Gachagua.
“We need to have a lifestyle audit of all the elected leaders just like has been done to DP Gachagua so that we can know who has stolen from the public and who has abused his position in society,” he said.
“It is the first time that as a country we are having a deputy president face an impeachment motion and the exercise has generated mixed reactions from Kenyans. Kenyan politicians have taught us not to follow them because they keep on changing from time to time. Let us not allow their utterances divide us as Kenyans,” he said.
He said the Church was not defending the DP, adding that if he is found guilty of all the allegations levelled against him, then he should be sent packing.
“I am calling on Kenyans to remain peaceful despite our political alignments and keep off politicians. We should know that our politicians are never static. They kept changing and we should learn to let them (politicians) do their things without us being involved,” he said.
“We are Kenyans and we have to remain as one people. We should not allow utterances made by politicians to divide us. We should let politicians battle it out at the Senate and even at the courts but as Kenyans let us continue living together peacefully,” he said.
