Why only churches? Poverty and inflation voices are now louder than the pulpit - George Kamau

[00:00:00]and the moment it is going to outgrow, then it is going to be dangerous for all of us.

[00:00:03]>> One of the leaders in the government said um explicitly that the church should not be involved in matters of governance. This weekend from these happenings, what are your thoughts around that? Was it a church event or was it a governance event that was being held within church premises?

[00:00:22]But even that, should that be the issue here that the church must not be involved?

[00:00:27]We also and just an adjunct to that is that the um uh Council of Muslim Leaders came out yesterday and very strongly condemned this as well and said absolutely not, this cannot happen. Almost echoing what you're saying this morning that you can't get to a situation whereby religious institutions, houses of worship, then will be segregated in the way in which they were.

[00:00:52]But some leaders seem to think that the church must not be involved in matters of governance.

[00:00:58]>> Um let me let me say that when I look at what is happening around, there must be something that has been choreographed because why is it happening only in the in churches and yet we have other faiths like the mosque and it's not happening. There must be something that is being communicated in one way or the other. And that's why I feel like the church is a target and I don't know why because in every election the church has always stood and has given out its voice. So this time around, I feel the church must be involved but and I think or probably we have someone who who has a different opinion concerning the church at this moment in time because every election the church is always prayed. Every government prays for the even including the government that is there in place right now. We have to pray and one of the best thing that I loved I loved for this election in 2022 when we did the election, we prayed for a peaceful transition.

[00:01:52]I am telling you to the letter, we never had any That's as far as the our elections were concerned by that time.

[00:02:00]This time round, somebody has gone the other way around and now things are happening in a different way altogether.

[00:02:06]So, to my understanding, I feel church has to be involved because we are dealing with the same These are the same Our congregation are the Kenyans who are living in the in this border. And we do not have a Kenya A and a Kenya B. We only have one Kenya. And so therefore, one of the things that I'd like to say is that we have to think first and foremost Kenyan because [clears throat] they are being brought about because of this tribal ethnicity, which are not helping us in any way because out of the 42 tribes, which tribe do you take to Somalia or to another country?

[00:02:36]None of these None Even the small one that we have. I think all of us we are we are meant to live here. We are supposed to Why can't we come up with policies and we form strategies like the way we've borrowed the our constitution We borrowed some of the articles from the American Constitution. And they're able to live and whereby they do election and there is nothing like this that happens around.

[00:03:01]Why are we not becoming mature enough?

[00:03:03]If we can be able to formulate and come up with the county government, we can come up with the with all these structures and and devolution, all these things are working. They are meant to help us so that we can be able to improve the standard of living of Wanjiku. Why is it that we cannot also upgrade ourselves to that level of mature political maturity that will help us to start walking that path. Whereby when I look at this particular person, I don't look at him from from where he has come from.

[00:03:30]We look at him as a as a leader.

[00:03:32]Does he have qualities? And is he selling Whatever he's selling to us, is it viable?

[00:03:39]>> Have Kenyans lost trust or respect for the places of worship? Why do I say that? Because if you remember even during the 2024 um, demonstrations that happened in the country. And at the demonstrations at the time, I don't like calling them Gen Zs, demonstrators, Kenyans at the time said, "The church has let us down because they have perpetrated and allowed politicians to disrespect the law, to do everything against us, and we see the church continuing to cajole with the leadership at the time." And even now that we see such happening, could it be because Kenyans saw Kenyans made a decision and that the church is no longer a place to be respected based off how the church has conducted itself previously.

[00:04:27]>> I I I I I I may I may not really agree on that because when I look at Let Let me take you back to during the time of the election in the pronouncement of the our current president when he won he won the the election by the IBC.

[00:04:43]Who was it next to the president?

[00:04:45]>> Mhm.

[00:04:46]>> William Ruto.

[00:04:47]>> Yes.

[00:04:47]>> And he prayed.

[00:04:48]>> Mhm.

[00:04:49]>> Do you know why? Because we were looking for a unified country.

[00:04:53]And that should be the direction we should be moving on. Why now this time round they are looking at People are looking at it from a different direction is because people are agitated. And people are depressed. Number one, inflation and cost of living. When someone has no money has no food to put on the table. Let me tell you that dealing with that kind of person now anything that comes along the way you you will definitely have to misinterpret it until the food comes on the table. So and that is where we are right now. We are They are people who are surviving with only one meal. Others they don't even have that one meal.

[00:05:23]So talking about the issue of people the church the Kenyans looking at the church from a different perspective, I would say it it it may have looked like we have really gone too much on that line. But don't forget that if you pray for something for the peace of the nation and it works for you, you'll continue actually telling the same creator. Continue doing it for us and then let's have the establishment of this government in the right manner. But no when when but when the policy is changing them in in between, then there's something that is not right in between that. And right now what is happening now, we may get into a point whereby number one, when you talk of now Christianity or any other faith, people go to these places of worship to seek God and also direction so that their livelihoods can be, you know, can be better. But right now it is the situation is deteriorating. So, the voice of poverty and the high inflation has become more louder than even the way we are supposed to be communicating