TOGETHER FOR PEACEFUL ELECTIONS; CJPC ARCHDIOCESE OF NAIROBI CONDUCTS CIVIC EDUCATION

The Catholic Justice and Peace Department (CJPD) in the Archdiocese of Nairobi is conducting Electoral Peace and Security workshops in parishes across the Archdiocese under the theme: Peaceful and Accountable Democratic Process for a Cohesive Kenya- Early Warning, Early Responses.

The workshops conducted by Mr. Simon Muiruri the CJPD Program Coordinator in the Archdiocese, will see all the CJPD commissioners taken through a module on civic education which will empower them with skills to go and enlighten Christian even the most interior parts of the Archdiocese on the need to embrace peaceful elections.

With the history of Kenya elections being stained by electoral- related violence and human rights violations, citizens have been urged to exercise their civic duty by voting for leaders who put their interests at heart and observe peace. The participants are to establish the early warning signs in the political wrangles in the country and find responses to ensure there is a stable society.  

The Church being the moral compass of the society has been entrusted in shepherding the nation in contributing to peace, unity and cohesion in line with its doctrine.

This programme has been implemented by the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) in conjunction with other consortium members, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops- Catholic Justice and Peace (KCCB-CJPC), Catholic Relief Service (CRS), the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM), the Elections Observation Group (ELOG), the Independent Legal and Medical Unit (IMLU) and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

The program’s objective is to achieve peaceful, credible and accountable electoral and democratic process through inclusive and meaningful participation for a just Kenyan society. It will have a long-term observation on: Monitoring of human rights violation, election related and gender-based violence, promotion of national cohesion, peaceful coexistence, accountability, transparency and mobilization of Kenya citizenry especially for the youth to resist political incitement and elite manipulation during the electoral and other democratic processes in Kenya.

The participants of this training will cascade the information gained to the Small Christian Communities in their parishes, to the Christian Associations and be agents of peace before, during and after the general elections.

The training has so far been conducted to Limuru, Outering, Ruiru and Western deaneries.  The department also plans to train representatives in all the deaneries of the Archdiocese.