PH
Politicians have been warned against reckless talks that can fuel animosity as the country prepares for next year’s general election.
The Anglican Church Kenya, Bungoma Diocese Bishop George Mechumo called on the incumbents and the aspiring politicians to stop using hate speech in their campaigns and instead preach peace.
Speaking at St Chrispinus ACK Church in Bungoma town during the ordination of over 80 deacons and Priests, the cleric called on politicians to stop using words that can fuel violence.
“We are not ready for a repeat of the 2007-2008 post election skirmishes that led to death of many innocent Kenyans. We must embrace peace all the time for the sake of development,” he stated.
He said that the church will be on the forefront in preaching peace and co-existence.
“The church should preach peace and coexistence. We will not shy away from telling politicians the truth because they are the recipe for violence. What they utter can be taken positively or negatively by the public,” he said.
Mechumo vowed that the church will always advocate for peaceful campaigns that outline development agenda and not hate speech that can turn out to be chaotic.
He called on the government to permanently settle all the internally displaced persons and all the victims of previous election skirmishes to foster reconciliation.
“Now that the Deputy President William Ruto and Journalist Joshua Sang have been let off the hook by the International Criminal Court on the crime against humanity, am calling on the State to settle all victims of the post election violence and the SLDF victims by giving them a permanent settlement to foster reconciliation,” Mechumo said.
