May Tolerance and Respect for the Rule of law Prevail in 2018 1/1/2018
As we usher in the new year of 2018, we remain grateful to the Almighty for taking us through a turbulent and highly-charged year of 2017, where virtually all aspects of our constitution were put to test. For this reason, we remind Kenyans that political transformation does not require self-sacrifice from leaders and citizens; it requires enlightened self-interest.
Communities of Kenya should re-examine themselves and establish whether their political leaders are genuinely representing their interest in their political grand standing or merely massaging their own egos.
In the new year, non-political community leaders should hold their political leaders to account and demand that in their mobilization promises, genuine interests are not at stake and whether methodologies being promised rational, viable and productive.
Kenyans should refuse to be chained in endless fracases that are characterized by sloganeering and mirages that make us feel nice but maybe hollow in real substance.
We will not succeed by telling politicians to subordinate their parochial interest to the national good. It is important that the political elites temper competition with cooperation. Politicians must realize that their self-interest would be better advanced by cooperating – even with former foes – rather than grandstanding. Let us all put our dark past behind us and instead commit to build a greater, peaceful and democratic nation; Kenya. A country that espouses the rule of law and respects the mandate of established institutions. A country devoid of negative ethnicity. A country whose people are unified by the spirit and vision shared across all its generations.
These are aspirations that can be achieved through serious commitments of each and every one of us. We cannot afford to derail these enormous and willful investments in peace and national cohesion. In this regard the NCCK share in the words of Thich Hanh who says:
“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.”
We trust that maturity and peaceful co-existence among Kenyans shall continue to prevail throughout the country during and after the 2017 watershed events. May God bless you all.
Rev. Canon Peter Karanja,
GENERAL SECRETARY; NCCK
May Tolerance and Respect for the Rule of law Prevail in 2018
