Religious leaders in the country have appealed to President William Ruto to revoke the Finance Act 2023 to restore unity in the country, which they say is in a bad state.
The groups, drawn from the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, urged President Ruto to “reverse Kenya’s downward spiral into the abyss” by adopting policies to alleviate suffering, starting with the repeal of the Finance Act, 2023, which they said was a heavy tax on Kenyans.
“Your Excellency, we urge you to open the way for dialogue and consultations to address the longstanding and deep-rooted grievances in the country in order to promote healing and reconciliation,” the religious leaders said in a joint statement signed by NCCK leader Archbishop Timothy Ndambuki, his KCCB counterpart Archbishop Martin Kivuva and Supkem chairman Hassan ole Naado.
For Azimio leader Raila Odinga, the religious leaders said the opposition leader should change his tune on the current mass action plan, which they said was “pushing the country into insurrection”.
“We urge you to embrace dialogue and consultation as a strategy to address grievances and promote reconciliation. The threat to collect signatures to topple the government is dangerous for the country and should be withdrawn,” the religious leaders told Mr Odinga.
They said the tension, violence and bloodshed reported from the recent demonstrations were making the situation worse for Kenyans rather than bringing a solution.
The religious leaders also pointed out that the destruction of businesses and public and private property, as witnessed during the protests, was driving up the cost of living.
Mr Odinga was also urged to embrace dialogue and consultation as a strategy to address grievances and promote reconciliation.
The leaders also said that the threat to collect signatures to topple the Kenya Kwanza government was dangerous for the country and should be withdrawn.
Kenyans were urged to unite and put the country back on the right track.
“We must not allow the selfish interests of political leaders to destroy our homeland and push us into poverty. As we are all suffering from the high cost of living, our best approach is to embrace non-violence as we demand better laws and policies”.
