Here’s our sincere prayer for Kenya

By Peter Opiyo and Fatuma Fugicha

President Kibaki led MPs and other dignitaries for the seventh National Breakfast Prayer Day.

Yesterday’s prayer meeting in Nairobi sought divine intervention for challenges facing Kenya since last year’s post-election violence.

Kibaki, who hosted his Rwandan counterpart, President Paul Kagame, said reconciliation was still a major challenge.

"Let us pray for God’s grace to enable us reinforce our communal ties and reach out in unity to one another as brothers and sisters in the spirit of God’s commandment to love others as we love ourselves," said Kibaki.

Although he made no direct reference to the country’s leadership, Kagame emphasised the need for leaders to ensure their countries did not become failed states.

Lives snuffed out

"When domestic stakeholders fail, the situation calls for invitation of the international community, and this amounts to leadership surrendering sovereignty," added Kagame.

From Left: President Kibaki, Rwandese President Paul Kagame, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Co-operatives Minister Joseph Nyagah at the National Breakfast Prayer Day, on Thursday. [PHOTOs: Kibera Mbugua/STANDARD]

The Rwandan president, who took to the podium before Kibaki, spoke of genocide in his country that snuffed out the lives of about a million people.

He said monopoly of power played a role in the 1994 massacre, but consensus, power sharing and diversity transformed Rwanda into Africa’s model of stability.

Kibaki said although reconciliation had many hurdles, the Government was working hard to overcome the challenges.

He said the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission would be in place in two months to tackle issues that have bedevilled the country for decades.

"I am glad to note that as Government, we are making progress towards addressing this challenge. Parliament passed the law to establish the commission in December last year. The process of hiring the commissioners has now commenced," he said.

Aware of the consequences of unstable nations, Kagame, whose country was heavily affected at the time of post-election violence in Kenya, talked of the need for leaders to confront the causes of instability through domestic solutions, saying the Rwandan experience in 1994 should not be replicated anywhere.

Confront root causes

"We learnt the hard way what other countries should not experience. Leaders should confront the root causes of instability. It is leaders and citizens who should arrest disintegration of their nations," he told the guests amid applause.

President Kibaki said the National Cohesion and Integration Commission has hit the ground and would address negative ethnicity and boost national integration.

"I expect the process of healing and reconciliation will take deep root among ourselves as individuals and within our communities so that we can move forward with a renewed sense of nationhood," said Kibaki.