Anglican and Catholic clerics ask Ruto to listen to the people, end kidnappings

All Saints Cathedral Provost Canon Evans Omollo during an Interview with The Standard after the Sunday sermon on 29th December 2024.[Benard Orwongo,Standard]

President William Ruto has been urged to end abductions of young Kenyans critical of his government and to seal corruption loopholes.

At the same time, Ruto has been asked to listen to Kenyans.

These were the words of Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Provost Evans Omollo and Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya at Holy Family Basilica.

Omollo urged the Minister for Interior, Inspector General of Police and the Director of Criminal Investigations and other security agencies to stop abductions and instead follow the law.

“The Constitution of Kenya provides for freedom of expression, provides for a judicial process if anyone has committed a crime whether in the digital space or otherwise please stop abducting people. Arrest them in broad daylight. If it’s Omollo like me, come and handcuff me in the presence of my wife, let her know that I am being taken to station X,” he said during the Sunday service at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi. 

He at the same time asked the youth to exercise their freedom of expression on social media with restraint, saying every freedom must come with a responsibility.

He urged them to be civil even in the way they engage and avoid trolling national leaders using language or images that are inappropriate.

“However, that does not mean that they must be abducted or harassed or some of them killed or maimed because that is against human rights,” he said. He blamed the situation on failure by the government to listen to Kenyans.

“One of the lessons we pick from that is that when leadership, when a government does not listen to her people then it is very easy to start up an uprising and that for me was a major message around the rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024, and the Gen Z’s uprising.

“What the government must be aware of is that when the Church or anyone else questions some of the things that are not right, especially with things like Social Health Authority, is not that we are opposed, it is simply because we are holding you accountable and telling you there is a better way in which you can do this. So please, step back listen and on board as many stakeholders as possible and then things will be better.” 

He said 2024 saw a lot of people struggle due to the harsh economic situation.

“We support taxation because governments are run by taxation as one of the major revenue earners, but as we have stated in the past we are opposed to over taxation,” he said. [James Wanzala]

“What we have seen in the year 2024 is a spree to raid the pockets of Kenyans, to raid their pay slips, bank accounts that those who do business have really very little in terms of profit to take home to take care of their needs. For those who are employed, the pay slip looks completely shattered and there is very little that people can take home to invest.”

Archbishop Megen said his hope was that “we continue in deepening our democracy, that we appreciate and respect even more the civic rights of every citizen of this country.”

“Democracy means that any MP, any member of government has a delegated power. That power comes from the people because the people vote you into office,” he said.

“Therefore, it is important for any government, not just government of Kenya, but for any government which is in a democratic system, to listen to his people, the people on the ground who have given that power to him and in a sense could even withdraw that power for them if you live in a democratic society.”

On sealing corruption loopholes, Omollo said the country should be deliberate in doing so.

“We want to ask the President and the Treasury and all arms of government charged with dealing with corruption to seal the corruption loopholes. We also want to ask all the state agencies let us be modest in our expenditure. There is a sense of extravagance when you look at how the taxpayers’ money is concerned even in yesterday’s news you saw up to Sh30 billion actually spent in travel alone within a span of four months and that tells you of extravagance,” he said. [James Wanzala]