The National Council of Churches of Kenya wishes all Kenyans a happy and blessed Easter. It is our prayer that God will grant you peace and security during this festive season.
As we celebrate this Easter, we urge all Kenyans to reflect on the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason, the best way to celebrate Easter is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ into your life so that you can be freed from punishment because of your sins.
May we all remember that God is holy, and our fellowship with Him is broken by sin. Yet, because of His love for us, God has made a channel through which we can communicate with Him and be saved, as is recorded in 1 Timothy 2: 3 – 6:
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men – the testimony given in its proper time”.
As we celebrate this Easter 2014, our nation is going through challenging moments. Poverty is at an all time high, and there are growing concerns over insecurity. The ongoing crackdown dubbed “Usalama Watch” is threatening to crystalize ethnic and religious divisions among the people.
We call upon the Independent Police Oversight Authority to exercise its mandate visibly to assure Kenyans that the security agencies are exercising justice in their work. All claims that the anti terrorism crackdown is being used to perpetuate ethnic and religious profiling must be investigated and any persons found culpable punished. Further, IPOA must speedily confirm or discount reports that the police involved in the crackdown have violated people’s rights and have demanded bribes.
We recognize that the government has a responsibility to ensure security for all Kenyans, but that must never be at the expense of the rights of the people.
To resolve the challenge of poverty, we urge all Kenyans to take measures at an individual level to improve their financial capacities. Let every Kenyan work hard for what they wish to have in life. Handouts, corruption and dependence all undermine the dignity assigned to every human being by God. As a nation, let us collectively determine to overcome the begging mentality which makes us sit back waiting for well wishers and instead embrace an attitude of hard work focused on making surpluses.
May God bless all of us, and may we have happy celebrations free from any form of suffering.
Rev Canon Peter Karanja
GENERAL SECRETARY
