Kenya church leaders cheer election results

Christian Century, Jan 25, 2003

Church leaders in Kenya have praised the nation's peaceful elections in late December and urged their new president, Mwai Kibaki, to keep his promises to the people. The Kenya African National Union, which had governed the country since independence in 1963, was trounced by Kibaki and his opposition National Rainbow Coalition.

"Kenyans have the right to be proud of what they have achieved," said Catholic Archbishop John Njenga of Mombasa, who headed a team of election observers, in an apparent reference to the peaceful nature of the polling. More than 10,000 observers and poll watchers were deployed December 27 by churches, Muslim groups and nongovernmental organizations. "It was a long, hard journey that we traveled," said Njenga.

Church figures in Nairobi and other cities in recent years have criticized the outgoing president, Daniel arap Moi, and called for political reforms in Kenya, including limitations on presidential powers and measures to ensure fairness in elections.

Corruption, Kibaki said, would now cease to be a way of life in Kenya. A former vice-president, Kibaki had served under Moi but quit the government more than a decade ago to join opposition politics. Kibaki beat Uhuru Kenyatta, Moi's favored candidate and the son of the country's first president, Jomo Kenyatta. Moi, 78, was prohibited by the constitution from running again.

Patrick Rukenya, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, attributed the emergence of the new Kenyan leader to "the hand of the Lord." Still, he said, the churches in Kenya should continue to point to "mistakes in the country, so that things can move again."--ENI