Kenya’s Archbishop to Lead Election Watchdog: CEN 9.21.07 p 8. September 23, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Kenya, Church of England Newspaper, Politics.trackback
Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi has been tapped to lead a private-public partnership charged with promoting peace and monitoring violence in the run up to Kenya’s General Elections in December.
On Sept 12, Archbishop Nzimbi, leaders of the Kenyan National Council of Churches along with leaders of the Muslim and Hindu communities signed an accord at a ceremony at Nairobi’s Grand Regency Hotel with representatives of the country’s political parties and the Electoral Commission of Kenya pledging to eschew violence and uphold the rule of law in the coming elections.
Supported by a grant from the United Nations Development Programme, the Kenyan Inter-Religious forum on Sept 21 will formally launch the election peace campaign entitled “Chagua Amani Zuia Noma” with a public ceremony led by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.
While the campaign will not have any legal powers to compel peace between Kenya’s fractious political parities Archbishop Nzimbi said the pledge of non-violence had the backing of all the country’s major religious groups and the moral commitment of the political parties.
The Church’s 29 dioceses will spearhead the campaign and will remind the political parties that they had given their commitment to peace, should violence erupt.
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