The clergy accused of "selling out" their faithful to politicians for selfish gains

Kiambu County Peace Forum Chairman Samuel Njenga speaking to the press in Thika. He is flanked by his deputy Aboo Norein.

A section of Kiambu residents have lamented about the never-ending political squabbles in Kiambu County noting that over the years, the county has never had peace due to toxic politics.

While speaking in Thika during the International Day for Peace celebrations, the residents blamed politicians and a section of the clergy for the mess that has dogged this devolved unit ever since the inception of devolution.

"It is harvest season for the clergy who have started organising harambees and inviting politicians to bribe their way into the 2022 leadership through the church. The church is in the forefront in sanitising wayward politicians for elections and selling out their followers. What they are doing is to set pace for another 5 years of crying and gnashing of teeth. They are selling their people to the highest bidders," explained Samuel Njenga, the chairman of Kiambu County Peace Forum.

Njenga lamented  that ever since Kiambu became a county, the county has experienced unending political noises that has seen it have three governors in a span of  7 years, yet with no solution on sight.

"It is quite unfortunate that Kiambu County has never experienced any peace since 2013. The first governor was voted out after a very noisy four years. His successor barely completed two years before he was impeached. The current governor is barely a year into office yet the squabbles and infighting are unbearable. These are indicators of poor leadership," he said.

He blamed visionless leadership for the mess in the county, blaming the leaders for nurturing an environment of anarchy and disorder in order to remain in power or seize it.

"These leaders don't want an empowered society because it will be very difficult for them to manipulate them. They want us to ever remain poor and dependent so that every time we run to them for help and handouts," said Njenga.

"With all its rich resources, how comes Kiambu youth are still suffering in poverty? What have these leaders done to empower their people? How many jobs have they created?" he asked.

He challenged the people demand from their leaders, policies and agenda for development and shun those who thrived in disunity and propaganda.

His sentiments were echoed by Dr. Samuel Karanja Kamau, the director of Family Matters Foundation who demanded transparency and sincerity among the leaders and the people to open up to issues that mattered to them.

"If we don't handle the root issues, we will keep on dealing with the fruit issues. Peace begins with the individual. Peace is not the absence of conflict but the ability to bring stability in the situation we are going through," explained Dr. Karanja.

He challenged leaders to inspire people in issues of truth and embrace diversity in ideas.

"People are free to speak what they think but those listening to them should be able to gauge what is valuable to them. Our people need civic education to be able to differentiate between the truth and deception," he said.

Winnie Njeri, the Secretary to Kiambu County Peace Forum noted that women and children suffered most in all these conflicts thus needed to think twice before they voted in anyone to lead them.