By CISA
NAIROBI, NOVEMBER 24, 2020 (CISA)-Rt. Rev. Alfred Rotich, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kericho has urged government to facilitate civic education on the contents of the Building Bridges Initiative Report (BBI) so that citizens can understand and make an informed decision to be for, or against it.
“…the opportunity is here for us to look at it and not just the people within the committee or the politicians but also government to facilitate a robust civic education across the country and even law experts to break it into very small portions so that the entire communities of Kenya would make a resolved decision that is informed. Rather than politicking about it we need to draw a fraternity,” he said in a November 22 interview.
Noting that the report is a good opportunity to unite Kenyans in dialogue, he said that a sober debate is needed so that all concerns can be voiced and a consensus reached so that conflict can be avoided.
“We have a bridge and we must walk it by making a deeper reflection into the report… I look forward to a national conference where we can all be able to panel beat some of the things that we have seen there,” he said.
“We are appealing for a peaceful environment so that we can draw a consensus…we must always encourage a very cordial debate not only to the politicians, we need to discuss with sobriety so that we don’t encourage a permanent state of disagreement and confrontation that will lead us into a conflict.”
Speaking on issues the Church would like to be considered in the report, Bishop Rotich noted that African and Christian values need to be given priority.
“The area of values, the ethos, the area of protecting life, the area of having the faith community especially the Church, looking at internal laws that govern the churches, I’m sure in time we will be able to meet in our National Dialogue Conference and we will be able to iron out all these matters that have emerged from the various units of the churches. It is indeed good and also an opportunity for each community like the Evangelicals, the Catholics, the National Council of Churches of Kenya(NCCK) and we are all in agreement that we should not be put on the sidelines,” he said.
