Faith leaders, NCIC form unit to keep peace

National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chairman Kepha Omae. [File,Standard]

With the 2027 General Election approaching, faith leaders have joined forces with the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), and World Vision Kenya to build a coordinated campaign against political violence, hate speech and other threats to national cohesion.

The partnership seeks to move peace efforts beyond traditional calls for calm from pulpits and mosques to practical interventions, including early warning, mediation, youth engagement, digital monitoring and rapid response to emerging conflicts.

Speaking on Wednesday during a joint forum in Nairobi, the organisations and participating faith leaders warned that political intolerance, ethnic mobilisation, misinformation, youth exclusion and unresolved economic and social grievances could undermine peaceful elections if left unaddressed.

The partners said the faith institutions, under Inter-Religious Council of Kenya (IRCK), were uniquely positioned to intervene because of their reach and influence at community level.

They committed to establishing a National Interfaith Elections Peace Coordination Committee, co-chaired by NCIC and IRCK, to coordinate peacebuilding interventions in line with NCIC’s elections roadmap and Kenya’s national peace and early-warning architecture.

The committee will also develop mechanisms for monitoring emerging threats, mobilising resources and reviewing progress throughout the electoral cycle.

“We commit to promote political tolerance, responsible leadership and respect for democratic processes as fundamental principles of peaceful elections, while rejecting political violence, ethnic mobilisation, intimidation, incitement and all forms of goonism,” said Jeremiah Ngumo, the IRCK moderator.

The NCIC perspective places emphasis on prevention, accountability and confronting the underlying grievances that often fuel electoral conflict, including the emerging goonism.

“We particularly call upon political leaders to reject the use of violence, intimidation, ethnic mobilization and goonism as instruments of political competition,” said NCIC chairperson Kepha Omae.

Faith leaders have been encouraged to publicly condemn political violence, intimidation, ethnic mobilisation and goonism while promoting constitutional values, responsible leadership and political tolerance.

The commission will also work with faith-based structures to strengthen early warning and rapid response systems at national, county and grassroots levels.

IRCK, meanwhile, will provide the interfaith platform needed to turn religious influence into a coordinated peacebuilding force.

The council and its partners plan to develop a national faith peace messaging framework covering sermons, khutbahs, community dialogues, radio, television and digital platforms.

The objective is to ensure that peace messaging does not remain reactive, but consistently addresses intolerance, exclusion, youth unemployment, discrimination, hate speech and misinformation.

“We will adopt a simple framework for monitoring, reporting and reviewing progress, mobilise resources with government and development partners, and convene regular reviews to assess implementation and respond to emerging risks,” said Gershon Mwakazi, the interim director of World Vision Kenya.

A key component of the partnership will be bringing young people into the centre of peacebuilding efforts. The partners acknowledged that young Kenyans are increasingly politically conscious.