Address issues hurting citizens, church urges state

 

All Saints Cathedral Provosts Canon Evans Omollo address media about the Police brutality and invasion of the Church during the ongoing Gen Z protests againt Finance Bill 2024. [File, Standard]

As the country gears up for the new year, the Church has issued a clarion call for national healing and a decisive shift from divisive rhetoric to public service.

Speaking when he presided over the final service of the year in Nairobi yesterday, Provost of the All Saints Cathedral, Evans Omollo, urged the government and the political class to step away from politics that polarises the country. 

Instead, he implored the politicians to prioritise the dignity of the people by addressing issues bedevilling them in the coming new year. 

“What should concern us more as we go into 2026 is: are we able to create more jobs so that the youth who are unemployed can get more opportunities to make a living?” he said. 

The Provost’s message was framed against the backdrop of a “volatile” 2025, which began on the heels of the historic impeachment of the former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and the subsequent appointment of his replacement, Kithure Kindiki.

The year has been further marked by the sombre first anniversary of the 2024 Gen Z protests.

According to data from human rights groups, the protests claimed the lives of at least 62 young people.

The death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in October compounded the nation’s sense of loss. 

These incidents, he noted, have sparked a regrouping of the opposition and intensified a “volatile political environment” that needs to be addressed.

“As we end the year, there is a lot of apprehension and anxiety about how 2026 will look like, and as a church, our call for leadership, both within the church, the private sector, and in government, is that we must endeavour to live up to what Jesus Christ, who we have just celebrated, came to do, which was to bring peace,” he said. 

Among the issues he wants done to realise the goal of reconciliation is streamlining the healthcare system, particularly the Social Health Authority (SHA), which is “struggling in certain spaces.” 

“Our call, both for the Ministry of Health and the government, is to ask, where are the bottlenecks that are making our health care system not work,” he said, adding:

“Prioritise those bottlenecks, remove them, so that service delivery in our health sector can be optimal.”

Omollo also asked the State to review the tax regime and lower the burden of taxation on the people by creating tax incentives that will spur small and medium enterprises. 

“We want to ask the Cabinet to prioritise putting more money into growing industries and retaining multinationals here because we have seen a sense in which that is dwindling,” 

He also called on security agencies to work together with the public to “reduce hostility between police officers and the people.” 

“Promote community policing and ensure that the criminal justice system is not abused to hurt people who ordinarily are innocent and are exercising their constitutional rights,” he stated.

This, he said, would help address the wounds of a nation still reeling from a year of unprecedented political upheaval, even as the country gears towards the 2027 general election. 

He called on Kenyans to embrace peace and unity even as they look to begin the new year.

“Our call for everyone across the leadership spectrum is that we may step into 2026 with confidence to be one indivisible people,” Omollo said.