No campaigns in churches, bishops now tell aspirants

The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops has banned political campaigns in churches ahead of next year’s General Election.

Chairman Archbishop Martin Kivuva directed Catholic officials not to allow politicians to take advantage of their congregation to make political statement in churches.

“Let politicians attend and support church functions as congregants but should not be allowed to address congregations. We don’t want politics in Catholic churches,” declared Kivuva.

He spoke at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Kiembeni, Mombasa, yesterday. 

“We are not going to allow campaigns to take place inside churches after the government banned rallies because of Covid-19,” said the cleric.

“As the Catholic Church, we were impressed to realise we all won after the court ruling on Friday on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) because no one went to the streets to demonstrate against the outcome,” said the cleric.

Kivuva added: “Let campaigns not divide us.”

He urged church leaders who intend to venture into politics to resign.

“Church leaders who want to become politicians should quit and avoid using churches as campaigning tools,” said Kivuva, who is the Archbishop of Mombasa Catholic Diocese.