The Monday Issue

Jubilee Centre March 3rd, 2008

We give thanks to God for the political compromises that have been made between the two political parties in Kenya. However, we must continue to pray that these compromises lead to forgiveness, healing and restoration. Let us pray for Kenyan political leaders that they be endowed with wisdom in how to deal with 300,000 people who have become refugees as a result of this conflict. Let us pray that the concessions that have been agreed upon will stand and enable democracy to thrive in Kenya.

As we pray for the peace and prosperity of Kenya, we must also reflect on a number of issues that led to this conflict. The first problem as we see it is that Kenya’s electoral and judicial systems have no capacity to deal with an election dispute. What is sad is that the people who are charged with responsibility to handle such issues cannot be trusted to conduct the affairs fairly by most Kenyans. The second is the problem of poverty. The problem of poverty in Kenya like in most African countries runs deep and complicates interaction among us as a people. Therefore, when a conflict arises as was the case in Kenya it gives opportunity to the victims of poverty to release vengeance on those that are perceived as the oppressors.

The third problem is that of tribalism. Amusingly, neither of the two leaders has taken time to aggressively address the issue of tribalism. A large portion of the conflict in Kenya emanates from tribal allegiance. The nature of most political and government systems in Africa are that total power rests on the Executive and by extension to the Executive tribe. Lastly, we ought to reflect on our values. How does the value of love for your neighbor rank amongst us? The former president of Zambia Dr. Kenneth Kaunda regarded love of a neighbor as a priority value because he saw it as a channel to build nationalism in the mind set of Zambians.

How do we respond to these challenges as Christians? First we must encourage Christians with skills in the legal practice to be proactive in ensuring that our nations have constitutions that people can have confidence in. Secondly, we must disciple Christians in middle class-income to work or give to programs that are providing education, health and job creation located in low-income communities. Most Christian organizations involved in providing such services are doing so with resources from foreign donors. We thank God and celebrate all those few Christians who are working in low-income communities using their own resources to reduce incidents of poverty, HIV/AIDS and ignorance. We ought to do more.

In conclusion, as a church we have been sent to go and make disciples of all nations. As we do this work Jesus has reminded us to focus on first loving God and then our neighbors. The church in Africa must strengthen its teaching in what it means to love God and to love your neighbor. It is about time we put an end where an African benefits or ills are determined by whether one is Bemba or Lozi or whether one is Luo or Kikuyu or whether one is Hutu or Tutsi or whether one is Shona or Ndebele. Jesus lived His virtues  of love for God and love for His neighbor all the way to the cross. Is this what you are modeling? Is this what you are teaching? Let us pray for the peace of Kenya.

 Lawrence Temfwe

• Church , Governance , Leadership
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