To all our esteemed Subscribers, Readers, Friends and Supporters,
We sincerely thank you for keeping up with our blog throughout 2010
Thank you for all your contributions to CISA’s success this year.
It’s been a great joy serving You, the Church and society in Africa
and beyond.
We pledge to you our unwavering commitment to professional and timely service in the coming year.
We want to wish you all Merry Christmas and a truly blessed year 2011
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
CISA TEAM
Monday, December 20, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Consolata Missionaries’ Position on Death Penalty
By Fr. Franco Cellana Regional Superior, Kenya
In its issue No. 126 (Friday, December 10, 2010), CISA carried a “Response to Fr. Bertaina’s case” and from it, the reader may be led to believe that the Consolata Missionaries rejoice at the prospect of a death penalty being carried out. We only recognise the verdict of the High Court of Nairobi delivered by Lady Justice Jessie Lessite against those who were charged with murdering our late missionary Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina IMC, appreciating the course and the steps that the High Court of Nairobi has taken in such a short time to solve the case. We, the Consolata Missionaries in Kenya would, thus, wish to make widely known our position as it was expressed by our General Superior, Fr. Aquiléo Fiorentini and his Council only a few days after the conclusion of the case in the High Court of Kenya.
Official Communiqué from the General Direction of The Consolata Missionary Institute
As regards the press releases concerning the death sentence pronounced against the two persons considered guilty of the murder of Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina IMC in Nairobi (Kenya) on January 19, 2009, the Consolata Missionaries consider it appropriate to make some clarifications.
1. We consider it a positive step that the High Court has taken into consideration and solved this case, contrary to what happened in similar cases never solved like the murders of Fr. Michele Stallone IMC killed at Loyangallani in 1965, Fr. Luigi Graiff IMC killed at Parkati (Baragoi) in 1981, Fr. Luigi Andeni IMC killed at Archer’s Post in 1998 and Bishop Luigi Locati IMC of Isiolo killed in 2005, just to name a few.
2. The Superior General, however, has already sent for filing, in the High Court of Nairobi, a letter in which he requests that the death sentence pronounced by the court against the two persons considered guilty of the murder of our confrere, Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina should not be carried out but rather commuted at most to life imprisonment. As Christians, and even more as missionaries, we are totally against the death penalty, as we are also against every feeling and act of violence.
3. We also consider that, if the death sentence were to be carried out, this would be a great offence to the memory of Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina, who spent all his existence for the life and promotion of the people of Kenya, working with passion and generosity for the formation of several generations of students. It is because of this commitment for life that he met his death and he could not desire anything else but redemption and life.
Fr. Aquileo Fiorentini, General Superior of The Consolata Missionaries Rome, October 28, 2010
In its issue No. 126 (Friday, December 10, 2010), CISA carried a “Response to Fr. Bertaina’s case” and from it, the reader may be led to believe that the Consolata Missionaries rejoice at the prospect of a death penalty being carried out. We only recognise the verdict of the High Court of Nairobi delivered by Lady Justice Jessie Lessite against those who were charged with murdering our late missionary Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina IMC, appreciating the course and the steps that the High Court of Nairobi has taken in such a short time to solve the case. We, the Consolata Missionaries in Kenya would, thus, wish to make widely known our position as it was expressed by our General Superior, Fr. Aquiléo Fiorentini and his Council only a few days after the conclusion of the case in the High Court of Kenya.
Official Communiqué from the General Direction of The Consolata Missionary Institute
As regards the press releases concerning the death sentence pronounced against the two persons considered guilty of the murder of Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina IMC in Nairobi (Kenya) on January 19, 2009, the Consolata Missionaries consider it appropriate to make some clarifications.
1. We consider it a positive step that the High Court has taken into consideration and solved this case, contrary to what happened in similar cases never solved like the murders of Fr. Michele Stallone IMC killed at Loyangallani in 1965, Fr. Luigi Graiff IMC killed at Parkati (Baragoi) in 1981, Fr. Luigi Andeni IMC killed at Archer’s Post in 1998 and Bishop Luigi Locati IMC of Isiolo killed in 2005, just to name a few.
2. The Superior General, however, has already sent for filing, in the High Court of Nairobi, a letter in which he requests that the death sentence pronounced by the court against the two persons considered guilty of the murder of our confrere, Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina should not be carried out but rather commuted at most to life imprisonment. As Christians, and even more as missionaries, we are totally against the death penalty, as we are also against every feeling and act of violence.
3. We also consider that, if the death sentence were to be carried out, this would be a great offence to the memory of Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina, who spent all his existence for the life and promotion of the people of Kenya, working with passion and generosity for the formation of several generations of students. It is because of this commitment for life that he met his death and he could not desire anything else but redemption and life.
Fr. Aquileo Fiorentini, General Superior of The Consolata Missionaries Rome, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Ivory Coast must not be allowed to slip Back into Chaos
Recent political developments in Ivory Coast are very worrying and alarming. They are creating a very dangerous and explosive situation in which our brothers and sisters in this country could easily lose their lives and property. This calls therefore for a quick and rapid action from the African Union and the International community to prevent Ivory Coast from sliding back into chaos and bloodshed. Action must be taken now.
A brief political history of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) demonstrates how explosive the situation in which this country finds itself right now is.
In 1960 Ivory Coast got its independence from its colonial power France. And while the north of the country is predominantly Muslim and the south predominantly Christian, under the powerful and wise leadership of Houphouet-Boigny who ruled the country from 1960 until his death in 1993, Ivory Coast remained united, stable and economically very prosperous.
In 1990 in an effort to democratize the country, Houphouet-Boigny legalized political opposition parties. In his first contested election Houphouet-Boigny won, beating out Laurent Gbagbo the candidate from Ivorian Popular Front (IPF.)
When Houphouet-Boigny died in 1993 he was succeeded by Henri Konan Bedei. And the political problems we have in Ivory Coast now could be traced back to this man! The reason being that before the 1995 presidential elections he placed restrictions on opposition party candidates forcing the opposition parties to boycott! And as it usually happens in Africa he «won» the elections!
The next presidential elections were to take place in 2000; unfortunately before they did the country experienced its first military coup! General Guei on 25 December, 1999 ousted Bedie! With Guei in power the political problems and tensions increased in the country. He promised to hold elections late in 2000. But he established through the Supreme Court which he controlled the criteria that all candidates had to have two Ivorian parents and have never held a nationality of another country.
Mr. Alassane Ouattara who was Prime Minister under Houphouet-Boigny was the candidate of the party: Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR.) The Supreme Court controlled by Guei disqualified him when it announced that his mother was from Burkina Faso! His party boycotted and the race remained between Guei and Laurent Gbagbo of (FIP.) But when according to the initial results Guei sensed that Laurent Gbagbo was winning, he stopped the whole process, disbanded the Electoral Commission and declared himself the winner!
Within hours, just as it happened in Kenya in 2007, a bloody fight broke out. Crowds of Gbagbo’s supporters took to the streets and attacked the guards protecting the presidential palace. Many soldiers joined the crowds to fight the Junta government forcing Guei to flee! And Gbagbo was declared President.
But having been excluded from the elections, crowds ot Ouattara’s supporters also took to the streets calling for fresh elections. Unfortunately hundreds of them were killed by forces loyal to the new government of Gbagbo and FIP youth who attacked them! Ouattara who did not want to see more bloodshed called for peace and recognized the Gbagbo presidency.
On 19 September, 2002 while President Gbagbo was in Italy civil war that divided the country into two (North and South) broke out! Troops who were to be demobilised mutinied, launching attacks in a number of cities. The government lost control of the north to the rebel forces who made their strong hold in the northern city of Bouake. To save his life Ouattara took refuge in the French embassy. France sent in its troops to prevent the rebels from capturing Abidjan!
In January 2003, Gbagbo and the rebel leaders agreed to form a government of national unity. And on 28 November 2010 presidential elections were held. The Independent Electoral Commission declared Ouattara winner. The International Observers also confirmed that Ouattara was the winner. But Gbagbo contested the result! And the Constitution Council which is controlled by him, declared him winner! Both Gbagbo and Ouattara have been inaugurated as president. So right now Ivory Coast has two Presidents! This creates a very dangerous and deadly situation for all our brothers and sisters in that country.
But the European Union, the United Nations and many countries have recognized Ouattara as the winner. US President Obama also recognizes Ouattara as the winner and he sent him congratulations. But the Ivory Coast military leaders are backing Gbagbo, which militarily makes him a very dangerous man!
The African Union appointed former South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between Gbagbo and Ouattara. And on 5 December he arrived in Abidjan.
While it is good and commendable that AU has already sent in Mbeki to mediate, given the history of this country and that Gbagbo has the backing of the army, mere political nagotions will not force him to step down. And he should. Because the Independent Electoral Commission which alone has the power to declare the winner, declared Ouattara the winner and not him. And the more the situation goes on like this without a solution the more dangerous it becomes.
Since the United Nations, the European Union, The United States of America and many other nations have already recognized Ouattara as the new President of Ivory Coast, we must no longer sit back waiting to see what is going to happen. It is clear what is going to happen is bloodshed and already several people have been killed!
For the 1994 genocide in Rwanda the whole world stands condemned, because we waited for so long while the situation was getting out of control by the hour. By the time the world woke up, nearly a million people had been slaughtered and lost their lives. This must not be allowed to happen again.
So the African Union should already be mobilising well trained troops and amassing them with sophisticated weaponry in the neighbouring countries of Ghana, Liberia and Guinea. From here if need be, they can swiftly enter into the country to stop bloodshed and carnage. And their presence nearby would put pressure on Gbagbo to step down.
African Armies should be there to protect the lives of Africans and not just be kept by their respective governments in their barracks. According to available reports : Nigeria has approximately 167,000 military and paramilitary personnel, South Africa has approximately 34,000 military and paramilitary personnel, Ghana has a very small army of about 7,000 personnel but one of the most professional up date armies in West Africa, Cameroon has approximately 38,000 military personnel, Kenya has approximately 100,000 military and paramilitary personnel. So the African Union cannot claim that it has no soldiers to send to protect the people in Ivory Coast from senseless death.
Ugandan and Burundian soldiers are doing a very good job in Somalia for the sake of all Africans and in fact for the sake of the whole world in trying to contain Al shaabab. So other African nations should provide troops to contain Gbagbo.
Apart from the African Union, I appeal to USA and the European Union to send some of their war ships near the Ivorian coast, to send a clear sign to Gbagbo that he should put jokes away and step down. He should not joke with the lives of the people of Ivory Coast putting them in danger of death. I also appeal to all nations to cut their diplomatic ties with the Gbagbo government. I believe all this pressure will force him to step down.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA.
A brief political history of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) demonstrates how explosive the situation in which this country finds itself right now is.
In 1960 Ivory Coast got its independence from its colonial power France. And while the north of the country is predominantly Muslim and the south predominantly Christian, under the powerful and wise leadership of Houphouet-Boigny who ruled the country from 1960 until his death in 1993, Ivory Coast remained united, stable and economically very prosperous.
In 1990 in an effort to democratize the country, Houphouet-Boigny legalized political opposition parties. In his first contested election Houphouet-Boigny won, beating out Laurent Gbagbo the candidate from Ivorian Popular Front (IPF.)
When Houphouet-Boigny died in 1993 he was succeeded by Henri Konan Bedei. And the political problems we have in Ivory Coast now could be traced back to this man! The reason being that before the 1995 presidential elections he placed restrictions on opposition party candidates forcing the opposition parties to boycott! And as it usually happens in Africa he «won» the elections!
The next presidential elections were to take place in 2000; unfortunately before they did the country experienced its first military coup! General Guei on 25 December, 1999 ousted Bedie! With Guei in power the political problems and tensions increased in the country. He promised to hold elections late in 2000. But he established through the Supreme Court which he controlled the criteria that all candidates had to have two Ivorian parents and have never held a nationality of another country.
Mr. Alassane Ouattara who was Prime Minister under Houphouet-Boigny was the candidate of the party: Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR.) The Supreme Court controlled by Guei disqualified him when it announced that his mother was from Burkina Faso! His party boycotted and the race remained between Guei and Laurent Gbagbo of (FIP.) But when according to the initial results Guei sensed that Laurent Gbagbo was winning, he stopped the whole process, disbanded the Electoral Commission and declared himself the winner!
Within hours, just as it happened in Kenya in 2007, a bloody fight broke out. Crowds of Gbagbo’s supporters took to the streets and attacked the guards protecting the presidential palace. Many soldiers joined the crowds to fight the Junta government forcing Guei to flee! And Gbagbo was declared President.
But having been excluded from the elections, crowds ot Ouattara’s supporters also took to the streets calling for fresh elections. Unfortunately hundreds of them were killed by forces loyal to the new government of Gbagbo and FIP youth who attacked them! Ouattara who did not want to see more bloodshed called for peace and recognized the Gbagbo presidency.
On 19 September, 2002 while President Gbagbo was in Italy civil war that divided the country into two (North and South) broke out! Troops who were to be demobilised mutinied, launching attacks in a number of cities. The government lost control of the north to the rebel forces who made their strong hold in the northern city of Bouake. To save his life Ouattara took refuge in the French embassy. France sent in its troops to prevent the rebels from capturing Abidjan!
In January 2003, Gbagbo and the rebel leaders agreed to form a government of national unity. And on 28 November 2010 presidential elections were held. The Independent Electoral Commission declared Ouattara winner. The International Observers also confirmed that Ouattara was the winner. But Gbagbo contested the result! And the Constitution Council which is controlled by him, declared him winner! Both Gbagbo and Ouattara have been inaugurated as president. So right now Ivory Coast has two Presidents! This creates a very dangerous and deadly situation for all our brothers and sisters in that country.
But the European Union, the United Nations and many countries have recognized Ouattara as the winner. US President Obama also recognizes Ouattara as the winner and he sent him congratulations. But the Ivory Coast military leaders are backing Gbagbo, which militarily makes him a very dangerous man!
The African Union appointed former South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between Gbagbo and Ouattara. And on 5 December he arrived in Abidjan.
While it is good and commendable that AU has already sent in Mbeki to mediate, given the history of this country and that Gbagbo has the backing of the army, mere political nagotions will not force him to step down. And he should. Because the Independent Electoral Commission which alone has the power to declare the winner, declared Ouattara the winner and not him. And the more the situation goes on like this without a solution the more dangerous it becomes.
Since the United Nations, the European Union, The United States of America and many other nations have already recognized Ouattara as the new President of Ivory Coast, we must no longer sit back waiting to see what is going to happen. It is clear what is going to happen is bloodshed and already several people have been killed!
For the 1994 genocide in Rwanda the whole world stands condemned, because we waited for so long while the situation was getting out of control by the hour. By the time the world woke up, nearly a million people had been slaughtered and lost their lives. This must not be allowed to happen again.
So the African Union should already be mobilising well trained troops and amassing them with sophisticated weaponry in the neighbouring countries of Ghana, Liberia and Guinea. From here if need be, they can swiftly enter into the country to stop bloodshed and carnage. And their presence nearby would put pressure on Gbagbo to step down.
African Armies should be there to protect the lives of Africans and not just be kept by their respective governments in their barracks. According to available reports : Nigeria has approximately 167,000 military and paramilitary personnel, South Africa has approximately 34,000 military and paramilitary personnel, Ghana has a very small army of about 7,000 personnel but one of the most professional up date armies in West Africa, Cameroon has approximately 38,000 military personnel, Kenya has approximately 100,000 military and paramilitary personnel. So the African Union cannot claim that it has no soldiers to send to protect the people in Ivory Coast from senseless death.
Ugandan and Burundian soldiers are doing a very good job in Somalia for the sake of all Africans and in fact for the sake of the whole world in trying to contain Al shaabab. So other African nations should provide troops to contain Gbagbo.
Apart from the African Union, I appeal to USA and the European Union to send some of their war ships near the Ivorian coast, to send a clear sign to Gbagbo that he should put jokes away and step down. He should not joke with the lives of the people of Ivory Coast putting them in danger of death. I also appeal to all nations to cut their diplomatic ties with the Gbagbo government. I believe all this pressure will force him to step down.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Has Universal Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment been realized?
Paul Odhiambo*
“The battle against AIDS ought to be everyone’s battle... I too ask pastoral workers to bring to their brothers and sisters affected by AIDS all possible material, moral and spiritual comfort. I urgently ask the world’s scientists and political leaders, moved by the love and respect due to every human person, to use every means available in order to put an end to this scourge,” (Ecclesia in Africa, Pope John Paul II) On December 1, the international community observed the 23rd World AIDS Day.
Since 1988, the World AIDS Day has been commemorated annually in order to increase awareness about the HIV/AIDS endemic. World AIDS Day’ activities are also meant to re-energize the fight against prejudices, discrimination and stigmatization associated with the HIV/ AIDS scourge. In addition, World AIDS Day is an occasion to continue educating the general populace about HIV and AIDS so that the public could play a critical role in the prevention of new infections and also to manage effectively the treatment and care of those infected and to provide necessary support and care to those affected by the AIDS pandemic. The World AIDS Day theme for 2010 was: Universal access and human rights. From time to time, world leaders have acknowledged that the universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention, care and support are fundamental human rights.
Former Zambian President Dr Kenneth Kaunda (R) is an activist in the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign while Goal 6 of the Millennium Development Goals aims at combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, targets 6A and 6B deal with HIV/AIDS pandemic. Target 6B is specifically about the universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it by 2010.
When the United Nations launched the Millennium Declaration in 2000, the world leaders had a great ambition that infected people would be able to access and afford the HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010. Why hasn’t this target been realized? What are national leaders doing to ensure that people’s rights to access antiretroviral drugs and other medical services are achieved? How are other members of the society responding to the needs of both infected and affected persons? How do churches, other faiths and various organizations working with people living with HIV/AIDS envisage holistic treatment to ensure that the dignity of infected people is upheld?
In the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice, December 4, 2010 According to UNAIDS Report (2010), there were 33.3 million people living with HIV at the end of 2009 compared with 26.2 million in 1999. The estimated number of children living with HIV at the end of 2009 was 2.5 million. In sub-Saharan Africa, the estimated number of people living with HIV was 22.5 million in 2009, comprising 68% of the global total. The estimated 1.3 million people who died of HIV/AIDS related ailments last year in sub-Saharan Africa comprised 72% of the global total deaths of 1.8 million.
Southern Africa is the most severely affected region of Africa by the HIV/AIDS epidemic accounting for 11.3 million in 2009. An estimated 34% of HIV infected people globally reside in ten countries in Southern Africa region. Nonetheless, there has been relative decline of HIV prevalence in East Africa since 2000. Between 2004 and 2008, HIV prevalence decreased in Tanzania by 3.4%. In Kenya, HIV prevalence fell from about 16% in the 1990s to 5% in 2006. The HIV prevalence in Uganda has generally stabilized at between 6.5% and 7.0%. On the other hand, the HIV incidence in Rwanda has been estimated at 3% since 2005.
The enhancement of HIV treatment in the last few years has had positive progress in reducing HIV prevalence in a number of countries. According to 2010 UNAIDS Report 37% of adult and children living with HIV were under antiretroviral therapy in Eastern and Southern African regions by the end of 2009 compared to only 2% seven years ago. In Kenya, AIDS-related deaths decreased by 29% between 2002 and 2007. An estimated 370,000 children contracted HIV during the pre-natal and breastfeeding in 2009. This is a decline compared to 500,000 children who contracted HIV in 2001. It has been observed that access to services aimed at halting mother- to-child transmission has contributed considerably to the decline of HIV prevalence among the newborns.
Though statistics have shown that concerted efforts in the last two decades have led to considerable prevention of new infections and improved HIV treatment, care and support, national governments and other stakeholders must remain vigilant to avoid “complex epidemic of complacency and AIDS fatigue” (Kelly, 2010).
Due to complacency, increases in HIV incidence among the youth have been observed in developed countries where the HIV prevalence had been low. Michael J. Kelly observes that complacency might lead to denial that HIV/AIDS needs exceptional response in low prevalence country because the government in such country might not see the need to mobilize special information, awareness-raising and protective measures to combat HIV/AIDS. A success in controlling new infections and adequate provision of HIV treatment in a high prevalence country can also lead to complacency if stakeholders are “satisfied” with the gains made in containing the HIV/AIDS pandemic hence they are “reluctant” to sustain an aggressive campaign to reduce further or eliminate altogether the HIV/AIDS scourge. It is, therefore, critical that all efforts against HIV/AIDS must be concerted so that complacency does not undermine the gains achieved against the debilitating disease.
The treatment of HIV/AIDS cannot be complete without good nutrition. According to Mombe (2008), nutritional therapy can contribute to the overall well being of HIV/AIDS patients. Good nutrition helps the body to fight HIV by ensuring a better quality of life for patients and their families. Similarly, Kelly (2010) observes that nutritional interventions should go hand in hand with the provision of antiretroviral drugs. It is an open secret that malnutrition makes people living with HIV/AIDS more vulnerable to opportunistic infections. The government and other stakeholders should ensure that people living with the HIV/AIDS get adequate nutritional care and support.
While new constitutions in our countries incorporate economic and social rights in their respective Bill of Rights, the realization of these rights is still elusive to many people in developing countries. Accessibility to clean and adequate water and adequate food is still a nightmare to a substantial number of people living with HIV/AIDS.
Universal access to treatment, care and support may not be realized wholly if nutritional therapy is inadequate. It has also been observed that people living with HIV/AIDS need emotional, psychological and spiritual support as they undergo medical treatment (Kenya Episcopal Conference Catholic Secretariat Commission for Education, 2005). HIV/AIDS patients often experience fear, anger, anguish, loneliness, stigma, discrimination, rejection, judgemental attitudes, hostility and the like.
Kelly (2010) observes that stigma and discrimination are powerful forces that can demean HIV/AIDS patients hence making it difficult to deal effectively with the disease. Though efforts have been made to mitigate these challenges through counselling… In the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice December 2010 5 selling, home-based care and spiritual accompaniment from religious people, health workers and other members of the community, a lot has to be done so that the dignity of people living with HIV/AIDS is respected.
Since every human being is created in God’s image and like, all persons have worth and dignity rooted simply in who they are, not what they do or what they have achieved (Overberg, 2003).
In their Pastoral Letter entitled: The AIDS pandemic and Its Impact on Our People (1999), the Catholic bishops in Kenya emphasized that all Christians should overcome any prejudice they feel towards AIDS patients. They reiterated that people should not look down upon those who suffer from HIV/AIDS. In addition, the Church leaders extended their support to “all valid and ethical scientific efforts to find ways of controlling the disease...” stressing that these efforts should ensure that the dignity of human person is respected.
Orobator (2005) observes that the Church, as a community of faith, is appropriately suited to offer spiritual and pastoral response to the people who have been infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. He underlines that the challenges facing people living with HIV/AIDS call for not only medical intervention but also spiritual and pastoral response that could include “direct counselling and... sacramental ministries.”
Orobator further submits that the care for HIV/AIDS patients is manifested in a variety of ministries within the Church. Other studies have also shown that spiritual support offers a great source of comfort and strength to people living with HIV/AIDS (Machyo, 2002).
For the universal access to treatment, care and support to be realized, organizations working on the HIV/AIDS prevalence and all other people of goodwill should show their solidarity with those living with HIV/ AIDS by ensuring that they are able to access spiritual support and pastoral case. According to Overberg (2003) solidarity leads to immediate care, education and to changing social structures.
Our solidarity with the AIDS patients should encompass all aspects of their treatment and the provision of their basic needs. It is important to note that many people living with HIV/AIDS are still not accessing ART due to several factors.
Even where a considerable number of people in Africa get HIV treatment, there are concerns about the finan…In the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice December 62010.. Cial sustainability of antiretroviral treatment programmes since they tend to rely on external aid (Kelly, 2010).
If the world powers could pay more attention to the promotion of human development and protection of life, then more resources could still be channelled towards the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria despite the economic crisis experienced in the last few years. The Church, other faiths, social movements, NGOs, private sector, social justice activists must continue with the campaign for integral treatment so that more people can access and afford ART and other services. Indeed the following message of the bishops is still valid today: Ways should be found to make medicines which lessen the impact of the disease and which lengthen life and improve its quality available and affordable to the poorer countries of the world.
We call upon pharmaceutical companies to match their right to compensation with the great human need and the scant resources available to our people (Kenya Episcopal Conference, 1999).
The whole world must unite and sustain the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. International institutions that make decisions affecting lives of people across the globe should ensure that their policies are pro-poor people who often lack resources to access and afford basic needs. It is critical that national governments and other actors engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS devise mechanisms, strategies and approaches that aim at holistic treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.
More efforts are still needed towards prevention of new infections. Universal access to treatment, prevention, support and care is possible if we all stand up and take measures that inspired by our respect for human life and dignity!
*The writer is the Programme Coordinator (Media Community and Voice) at Jesuit Hakimani Centre, Kenya.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA.
“The battle against AIDS ought to be everyone’s battle... I too ask pastoral workers to bring to their brothers and sisters affected by AIDS all possible material, moral and spiritual comfort. I urgently ask the world’s scientists and political leaders, moved by the love and respect due to every human person, to use every means available in order to put an end to this scourge,” (Ecclesia in Africa, Pope John Paul II) On December 1, the international community observed the 23rd World AIDS Day.
Since 1988, the World AIDS Day has been commemorated annually in order to increase awareness about the HIV/AIDS endemic. World AIDS Day’ activities are also meant to re-energize the fight against prejudices, discrimination and stigmatization associated with the HIV/ AIDS scourge. In addition, World AIDS Day is an occasion to continue educating the general populace about HIV and AIDS so that the public could play a critical role in the prevention of new infections and also to manage effectively the treatment and care of those infected and to provide necessary support and care to those affected by the AIDS pandemic. The World AIDS Day theme for 2010 was: Universal access and human rights. From time to time, world leaders have acknowledged that the universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention, care and support are fundamental human rights.
Former Zambian President Dr Kenneth Kaunda (R) is an activist in the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign while Goal 6 of the Millennium Development Goals aims at combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, targets 6A and 6B deal with HIV/AIDS pandemic. Target 6B is specifically about the universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it by 2010.
When the United Nations launched the Millennium Declaration in 2000, the world leaders had a great ambition that infected people would be able to access and afford the HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010. Why hasn’t this target been realized? What are national leaders doing to ensure that people’s rights to access antiretroviral drugs and other medical services are achieved? How are other members of the society responding to the needs of both infected and affected persons? How do churches, other faiths and various organizations working with people living with HIV/AIDS envisage holistic treatment to ensure that the dignity of infected people is upheld?
In the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice, December 4, 2010 According to UNAIDS Report (2010), there were 33.3 million people living with HIV at the end of 2009 compared with 26.2 million in 1999. The estimated number of children living with HIV at the end of 2009 was 2.5 million. In sub-Saharan Africa, the estimated number of people living with HIV was 22.5 million in 2009, comprising 68% of the global total. The estimated 1.3 million people who died of HIV/AIDS related ailments last year in sub-Saharan Africa comprised 72% of the global total deaths of 1.8 million.
Southern Africa is the most severely affected region of Africa by the HIV/AIDS epidemic accounting for 11.3 million in 2009. An estimated 34% of HIV infected people globally reside in ten countries in Southern Africa region. Nonetheless, there has been relative decline of HIV prevalence in East Africa since 2000. Between 2004 and 2008, HIV prevalence decreased in Tanzania by 3.4%. In Kenya, HIV prevalence fell from about 16% in the 1990s to 5% in 2006. The HIV prevalence in Uganda has generally stabilized at between 6.5% and 7.0%. On the other hand, the HIV incidence in Rwanda has been estimated at 3% since 2005.
The enhancement of HIV treatment in the last few years has had positive progress in reducing HIV prevalence in a number of countries. According to 2010 UNAIDS Report 37% of adult and children living with HIV were under antiretroviral therapy in Eastern and Southern African regions by the end of 2009 compared to only 2% seven years ago. In Kenya, AIDS-related deaths decreased by 29% between 2002 and 2007. An estimated 370,000 children contracted HIV during the pre-natal and breastfeeding in 2009. This is a decline compared to 500,000 children who contracted HIV in 2001. It has been observed that access to services aimed at halting mother- to-child transmission has contributed considerably to the decline of HIV prevalence among the newborns.
Though statistics have shown that concerted efforts in the last two decades have led to considerable prevention of new infections and improved HIV treatment, care and support, national governments and other stakeholders must remain vigilant to avoid “complex epidemic of complacency and AIDS fatigue” (Kelly, 2010).
Due to complacency, increases in HIV incidence among the youth have been observed in developed countries where the HIV prevalence had been low. Michael J. Kelly observes that complacency might lead to denial that HIV/AIDS needs exceptional response in low prevalence country because the government in such country might not see the need to mobilize special information, awareness-raising and protective measures to combat HIV/AIDS. A success in controlling new infections and adequate provision of HIV treatment in a high prevalence country can also lead to complacency if stakeholders are “satisfied” with the gains made in containing the HIV/AIDS pandemic hence they are “reluctant” to sustain an aggressive campaign to reduce further or eliminate altogether the HIV/AIDS scourge. It is, therefore, critical that all efforts against HIV/AIDS must be concerted so that complacency does not undermine the gains achieved against the debilitating disease.
The treatment of HIV/AIDS cannot be complete without good nutrition. According to Mombe (2008), nutritional therapy can contribute to the overall well being of HIV/AIDS patients. Good nutrition helps the body to fight HIV by ensuring a better quality of life for patients and their families. Similarly, Kelly (2010) observes that nutritional interventions should go hand in hand with the provision of antiretroviral drugs. It is an open secret that malnutrition makes people living with HIV/AIDS more vulnerable to opportunistic infections. The government and other stakeholders should ensure that people living with the HIV/AIDS get adequate nutritional care and support.
While new constitutions in our countries incorporate economic and social rights in their respective Bill of Rights, the realization of these rights is still elusive to many people in developing countries. Accessibility to clean and adequate water and adequate food is still a nightmare to a substantial number of people living with HIV/AIDS.
Universal access to treatment, care and support may not be realized wholly if nutritional therapy is inadequate. It has also been observed that people living with HIV/AIDS need emotional, psychological and spiritual support as they undergo medical treatment (Kenya Episcopal Conference Catholic Secretariat Commission for Education, 2005). HIV/AIDS patients often experience fear, anger, anguish, loneliness, stigma, discrimination, rejection, judgemental attitudes, hostility and the like.
Kelly (2010) observes that stigma and discrimination are powerful forces that can demean HIV/AIDS patients hence making it difficult to deal effectively with the disease. Though efforts have been made to mitigate these challenges through counselling… In the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice December 2010 5 selling, home-based care and spiritual accompaniment from religious people, health workers and other members of the community, a lot has to be done so that the dignity of people living with HIV/AIDS is respected.
Since every human being is created in God’s image and like, all persons have worth and dignity rooted simply in who they are, not what they do or what they have achieved (Overberg, 2003).
In their Pastoral Letter entitled: The AIDS pandemic and Its Impact on Our People (1999), the Catholic bishops in Kenya emphasized that all Christians should overcome any prejudice they feel towards AIDS patients. They reiterated that people should not look down upon those who suffer from HIV/AIDS. In addition, the Church leaders extended their support to “all valid and ethical scientific efforts to find ways of controlling the disease...” stressing that these efforts should ensure that the dignity of human person is respected.
Orobator (2005) observes that the Church, as a community of faith, is appropriately suited to offer spiritual and pastoral response to the people who have been infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. He underlines that the challenges facing people living with HIV/AIDS call for not only medical intervention but also spiritual and pastoral response that could include “direct counselling and... sacramental ministries.”
Orobator further submits that the care for HIV/AIDS patients is manifested in a variety of ministries within the Church. Other studies have also shown that spiritual support offers a great source of comfort and strength to people living with HIV/AIDS (Machyo, 2002).
For the universal access to treatment, care and support to be realized, organizations working on the HIV/AIDS prevalence and all other people of goodwill should show their solidarity with those living with HIV/ AIDS by ensuring that they are able to access spiritual support and pastoral case. According to Overberg (2003) solidarity leads to immediate care, education and to changing social structures.
Our solidarity with the AIDS patients should encompass all aspects of their treatment and the provision of their basic needs. It is important to note that many people living with HIV/AIDS are still not accessing ART due to several factors.
Even where a considerable number of people in Africa get HIV treatment, there are concerns about the finan…In the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice December 62010.. Cial sustainability of antiretroviral treatment programmes since they tend to rely on external aid (Kelly, 2010).
If the world powers could pay more attention to the promotion of human development and protection of life, then more resources could still be channelled towards the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria despite the economic crisis experienced in the last few years. The Church, other faiths, social movements, NGOs, private sector, social justice activists must continue with the campaign for integral treatment so that more people can access and afford ART and other services. Indeed the following message of the bishops is still valid today: Ways should be found to make medicines which lessen the impact of the disease and which lengthen life and improve its quality available and affordable to the poorer countries of the world.
We call upon pharmaceutical companies to match their right to compensation with the great human need and the scant resources available to our people (Kenya Episcopal Conference, 1999).
The whole world must unite and sustain the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. International institutions that make decisions affecting lives of people across the globe should ensure that their policies are pro-poor people who often lack resources to access and afford basic needs. It is critical that national governments and other actors engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS devise mechanisms, strategies and approaches that aim at holistic treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.
More efforts are still needed towards prevention of new infections. Universal access to treatment, prevention, support and care is possible if we all stand up and take measures that inspired by our respect for human life and dignity!
*The writer is the Programme Coordinator (Media Community and Voice) at Jesuit Hakimani Centre, Kenya.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA.
Response to the Late Fr Bertaina’s Case
Dear Editor,
Greetings in the Lord. I want to thank you for the report of the case of Fr. Bertaina, a Consolata Missionary (IMC) (October 23, 2010). It is rare to find an ending to such a case involving a missionary. There are a number of cases that still have not been solved after many years. These still await the truth being made known. And so, I would like to say I am happy to read about the arrest of those responsible for the death of Fr. Bertaina, ICM.
I know that the Consolata Fathers and Brothers had an important role in making sure that the police carried out their duties responsibly. They were also instrumental in finding those responsible for the crime. Without their persistence on behalf of their brother I doubt we would be reading any news of this case today.
It seems that this case has come to a speedy conclusion, perhaps also because of the interest of various important people who were watching this case closely. Your article indicates a recognition that the wheel of justice grinds slowly. These interested parties made sure that the case of Fr. Bertaina did not get put on a shelf somewhere.
It is the final sentence of the article, however, that causes me sadness. In that sentence you claim that in the case of Fr. Bertaina the wheel of justice delivers. But what you say it delivers in the body of the article is not justice, but death. Perhaps it is ironic that the opening title to the article says that two of the perpetrators are to receive life imprisonment. By the end of the article it is clear that they are actually to receive death. To rejoice over the sentence of death for two people in Kenya is not so good even if they are criminals. As we know as Catholics, it is not enough to have justice. There also needs to be mercy.
It is not easy for us to think of mercy and forgiveness when a terrible crime has been committed, but this is the nobler act than vengeance. Nor does this mean that justice is denied or ignored. A sentence of death reduced to life in prison still respects justice. Jesus did not ask for death for those who were killing him. When one has real power they don’t need to make their importance felt. They can show true power by granting mercy. He also instructed his disciples not to seek revenge or the eye for an eye, but to be ready to forgive and to love.
In the Book of Wisdom we read that God’s ways of dealing with sinners is not to destroy all at once, but to punish in order to bring about repentance and conversion and to help his people to do the same (Wis 2:22-3:22). The example of Jesus is a fuller revelation of this power of God. Nor is mercy granted because one deserves it. If they deserve it, then it is not mercy, but justice. Mercy is granted because the one who has the power to grant it is living at a higher moral plane.
Kenya is in need of such examples of mercy. There are too many examples of meeting out even more punishment than is allowed. The desire for swift justice often leads to the death of those who don’t deserve it based on their crimes. We see this in the case of mob justice on our streets when a person is killed for stealing. When the justice system is certain of the guilt of criminals, then mercy is needed to temper justice. The Church should be there to ask for it as a witness to the dignity of all people, even those who do not know what they are doing, as Jesus puts it. The actions of the two accused in the case of Fr. Bertaina do not “scare away mercy,” as the judge may have said, but call for it all the more.
The Consolata Missionary community has born witness to the inspiration of their name and forgiven these criminals. The justice system should look to their example as to how to act. Criminals are not hindered from killing by the threat of the death penalty, nor is a society ennobled by the killing of any of its citizens. Fr. Bertaina, ICM consecrated his life to bearing witness to the compassion of God. How ironic that the two perpetrators of his death should be treated in a way which does not show compassion.
There have been a number of missionaries who have been killed or attacked in Kenya over the years. There is a great desire for this to end. There is also a desire for the killing of many Kenyans to end as well. This requires a justice system that performs properly at all levels. As this happens there will be more who are captured, tried, and found guilty for their crimes and given the death penalty. The disciples of Jesus will be called upon to recognize the need for repentance and conversion of those who are guilty. A willingness to forgive and to be merciful will help this to happen without removing justice. It will lead to a more noble and Christian society which respects the dignity of all people even criminals.
Let us rejoice in the finding of one lost sheep and the conversion of one sinner rather than the death of those who are violent. Let us rejoice in love which is stronger than death. Let us seek justice tempered with mercy.
In the love and mercy of Christ,
Fr. Daudi Adiletta, OP, Chair of the Religious Superiors Conference of Kenya.
Greetings in the Lord. I want to thank you for the report of the case of Fr. Bertaina, a Consolata Missionary (IMC) (October 23, 2010). It is rare to find an ending to such a case involving a missionary. There are a number of cases that still have not been solved after many years. These still await the truth being made known. And so, I would like to say I am happy to read about the arrest of those responsible for the death of Fr. Bertaina, ICM.
I know that the Consolata Fathers and Brothers had an important role in making sure that the police carried out their duties responsibly. They were also instrumental in finding those responsible for the crime. Without their persistence on behalf of their brother I doubt we would be reading any news of this case today.
It seems that this case has come to a speedy conclusion, perhaps also because of the interest of various important people who were watching this case closely. Your article indicates a recognition that the wheel of justice grinds slowly. These interested parties made sure that the case of Fr. Bertaina did not get put on a shelf somewhere.
It is the final sentence of the article, however, that causes me sadness. In that sentence you claim that in the case of Fr. Bertaina the wheel of justice delivers. But what you say it delivers in the body of the article is not justice, but death. Perhaps it is ironic that the opening title to the article says that two of the perpetrators are to receive life imprisonment. By the end of the article it is clear that they are actually to receive death. To rejoice over the sentence of death for two people in Kenya is not so good even if they are criminals. As we know as Catholics, it is not enough to have justice. There also needs to be mercy.
It is not easy for us to think of mercy and forgiveness when a terrible crime has been committed, but this is the nobler act than vengeance. Nor does this mean that justice is denied or ignored. A sentence of death reduced to life in prison still respects justice. Jesus did not ask for death for those who were killing him. When one has real power they don’t need to make their importance felt. They can show true power by granting mercy. He also instructed his disciples not to seek revenge or the eye for an eye, but to be ready to forgive and to love.
In the Book of Wisdom we read that God’s ways of dealing with sinners is not to destroy all at once, but to punish in order to bring about repentance and conversion and to help his people to do the same (Wis 2:22-3:22). The example of Jesus is a fuller revelation of this power of God. Nor is mercy granted because one deserves it. If they deserve it, then it is not mercy, but justice. Mercy is granted because the one who has the power to grant it is living at a higher moral plane.
Kenya is in need of such examples of mercy. There are too many examples of meeting out even more punishment than is allowed. The desire for swift justice often leads to the death of those who don’t deserve it based on their crimes. We see this in the case of mob justice on our streets when a person is killed for stealing. When the justice system is certain of the guilt of criminals, then mercy is needed to temper justice. The Church should be there to ask for it as a witness to the dignity of all people, even those who do not know what they are doing, as Jesus puts it. The actions of the two accused in the case of Fr. Bertaina do not “scare away mercy,” as the judge may have said, but call for it all the more.
The Consolata Missionary community has born witness to the inspiration of their name and forgiven these criminals. The justice system should look to their example as to how to act. Criminals are not hindered from killing by the threat of the death penalty, nor is a society ennobled by the killing of any of its citizens. Fr. Bertaina, ICM consecrated his life to bearing witness to the compassion of God. How ironic that the two perpetrators of his death should be treated in a way which does not show compassion.
There have been a number of missionaries who have been killed or attacked in Kenya over the years. There is a great desire for this to end. There is also a desire for the killing of many Kenyans to end as well. This requires a justice system that performs properly at all levels. As this happens there will be more who are captured, tried, and found guilty for their crimes and given the death penalty. The disciples of Jesus will be called upon to recognize the need for repentance and conversion of those who are guilty. A willingness to forgive and to be merciful will help this to happen without removing justice. It will lead to a more noble and Christian society which respects the dignity of all people even criminals.
Let us rejoice in the finding of one lost sheep and the conversion of one sinner rather than the death of those who are violent. Let us rejoice in love which is stronger than death. Let us seek justice tempered with mercy.
In the love and mercy of Christ,
Fr. Daudi Adiletta, OP, Chair of the Religious Superiors Conference of Kenya.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Death Penalty and the Innocently Condemned!
All over the world, innocent people for different reasons are convicted and condemned for crimes they never committed! So the possibility of sentencing innocent people to death is very real! And the sad news is that it has indeed taken place and it will continue to happen! It is a crime against humanity and God the author of life. So every effort must be made to have all countries abolish the death penalty for all crimes. It is only in this way that innocent people can be save from gallows.
In countries where the death penalty still exists someone (a hangman) has to be assigned the task of killing those who have been condemned to death, and this someone is therefore turned into a killer! And for sure anybody who turns another human being into a killer commits a crime against humanity. The one appointed as a hangman ceases to live as a normal human being! He is in some way turned into a wild beast feared by everybody and therefore left a lonely creature with no friends. When Michael Kirugumi wa Njuki, Kenya’s last and longest serving hangman at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison past way in November 2009, at the age of 86, he died a shunned and most lonely man in his village. And nobody went to mourn his death!
Even in Western democracies where the Judiciary is supposed to be functioning well, we have miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions of innocent people!
Wrongful convictions in Canada : It is reported «In 1959, Truscott was sentenced to be hanged at age 14…After the original conviction, he spent four months in the shadow of the gallows until his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment…On August 28, 2007 – 48years later – the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously overturned Truscott’s conviction and acquitted him.»
The report goes on to say «In June 1990, Brigitte Grenier died near Roseisle…Kyle Unger and another man, Timoth Houlahan, was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with her death in 1992. Houlahan was released on bail after the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned his conviction in 1994, and he committed suicide later that year.»
Wrongful convictions in USA: One report says «Since 1973, more than 115 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful convictions. In 2003 alone 10 innocent defendants were released from death row.»
In North Carolina: «Charles Munsey, died in 1999. Sentenced to death and spent six years in prison for a crime to which another man confessed. He warn a new trial shortly before dying in prison.»
In Virginia: «Earl Washington, pardoned in 2000, spent 17 years in prison before receiving a full pardon. DNA testing proved his innocence of the rape and murder for which he was convicted…He was released from prison in 2001.»
In Illinois: Madison Hobley, Aaron Patterson, Stanley Howard and LeRoy Orange, pardoned in 2003 [were] sent to death row on the basis of ‘confessions’ extracted through the use of torture by former Chicago Police commander Jon Burge and other Area 2 officers in Chicago.»
Wrongful convictions in UK : A report by Ellen Branagh, Press Association says : «A man who spent more than three years in jail for a crime he did not commit today described an apology from the police force that helped convict him as ‘too little, too late.’ Warren Blackwell was jailed in 1999 for a sex attack outside a social club. His conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2006 after new evidence undermined the credibility of the complainant. »
Another report says: «Anne Maguire’s nephew, Gerry Conlon, had been wrongly accused of carrying out the 1974 IRA bombing of a pub in Guildford that left five people dead. He and three others, who became known as the Guildford Four, were later imprisoned in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in English history. The four were convicted on the basis of false confessions extracted after physical abuse and threats by Surrey police while detained under anti-terrorism laws.»
While Canada and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, USA is still among the countries that retain the death penalty.
In East Africa we are consoled at least by Burundi and Rwanda, for they are among the countries which have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Death penalty still exists in the laws of Kenya and Tanzania although these countries have not carried out any executions in the past 10 years. Uganda brings tears of sadness on our faces, for it is among the countries that still retain the death penalty even for ordinary crimes. And very recently a Bill was discussed in the Ugandan Parliament that was proposing a death penalty for those found guilty of homosexual misconduct. But as events unfolded and with external pressure, President Museveni saw that the Bill was very harsh and distanced himself from it!
All of us should be very concerned about all the innocent people who have been condemned to death for crimes they never committed. I therefore appeal to all politicians of good will and religious leaders of all the countries, world-wide which still retain death penalty in their laws, to mobilise the people and make big demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people and if possible of a million people to force their governments to abolish the death penalty.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
In countries where the death penalty still exists someone (a hangman) has to be assigned the task of killing those who have been condemned to death, and this someone is therefore turned into a killer! And for sure anybody who turns another human being into a killer commits a crime against humanity. The one appointed as a hangman ceases to live as a normal human being! He is in some way turned into a wild beast feared by everybody and therefore left a lonely creature with no friends. When Michael Kirugumi wa Njuki, Kenya’s last and longest serving hangman at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison past way in November 2009, at the age of 86, he died a shunned and most lonely man in his village. And nobody went to mourn his death!
Even in Western democracies where the Judiciary is supposed to be functioning well, we have miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions of innocent people!
Wrongful convictions in Canada : It is reported «In 1959, Truscott was sentenced to be hanged at age 14…After the original conviction, he spent four months in the shadow of the gallows until his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment…On August 28, 2007 – 48years later – the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously overturned Truscott’s conviction and acquitted him.»
The report goes on to say «In June 1990, Brigitte Grenier died near Roseisle…Kyle Unger and another man, Timoth Houlahan, was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with her death in 1992. Houlahan was released on bail after the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned his conviction in 1994, and he committed suicide later that year.»
Wrongful convictions in USA: One report says «Since 1973, more than 115 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful convictions. In 2003 alone 10 innocent defendants were released from death row.»
In North Carolina: «Charles Munsey, died in 1999. Sentenced to death and spent six years in prison for a crime to which another man confessed. He warn a new trial shortly before dying in prison.»
In Virginia: «Earl Washington, pardoned in 2000, spent 17 years in prison before receiving a full pardon. DNA testing proved his innocence of the rape and murder for which he was convicted…He was released from prison in 2001.»
In Illinois: Madison Hobley, Aaron Patterson, Stanley Howard and LeRoy Orange, pardoned in 2003 [were] sent to death row on the basis of ‘confessions’ extracted through the use of torture by former Chicago Police commander Jon Burge and other Area 2 officers in Chicago.»
Wrongful convictions in UK : A report by Ellen Branagh, Press Association says : «A man who spent more than three years in jail for a crime he did not commit today described an apology from the police force that helped convict him as ‘too little, too late.’ Warren Blackwell was jailed in 1999 for a sex attack outside a social club. His conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2006 after new evidence undermined the credibility of the complainant. »
Another report says: «Anne Maguire’s nephew, Gerry Conlon, had been wrongly accused of carrying out the 1974 IRA bombing of a pub in Guildford that left five people dead. He and three others, who became known as the Guildford Four, were later imprisoned in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in English history. The four were convicted on the basis of false confessions extracted after physical abuse and threats by Surrey police while detained under anti-terrorism laws.»
While Canada and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, USA is still among the countries that retain the death penalty.
In East Africa we are consoled at least by Burundi and Rwanda, for they are among the countries which have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Death penalty still exists in the laws of Kenya and Tanzania although these countries have not carried out any executions in the past 10 years. Uganda brings tears of sadness on our faces, for it is among the countries that still retain the death penalty even for ordinary crimes. And very recently a Bill was discussed in the Ugandan Parliament that was proposing a death penalty for those found guilty of homosexual misconduct. But as events unfolded and with external pressure, President Museveni saw that the Bill was very harsh and distanced himself from it!
All of us should be very concerned about all the innocent people who have been condemned to death for crimes they never committed. I therefore appeal to all politicians of good will and religious leaders of all the countries, world-wide which still retain death penalty in their laws, to mobilise the people and make big demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people and if possible of a million people to force their governments to abolish the death penalty.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Heterosexual Marriage Triumphs
By Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
Male-female relationships are undoubtedly fundamental and basic for the survival of any human society and indeed of the whole of the human race. This is why God in his wisdom did not create only one gender! He created Adam and Eve. He created them male and female. And experience shows that in spite of all the misunderstandings and sometimes deadly fights among them, man and woman are inseparable.
A male-female relationship manifests itself in two basic forms, of which the first is: ordinary friendship which demands of us respect and charity for all people of the other or opposite sex regardless of whether or not we are sexually attracted to them. And the second one is: deep and intimate friendship which is very personal and between a specific man and a specific woman. It engages all our feelings and forces: physical, psychological and spiritual. And it demands of the two individuals involved, some form of explicit commitment verbal or written to each other. A healthy relationship of this kind as it grows it opens up in a modest and prudent way to everyone. (A relationship of a man and a woman which has no room for others is sick and unhealthy!)
In fact, the key to integral human development that is, growth and maturity at all human levels: physical, mental, psychological, emotional, moral and spiritual lies in man-woman deep and sincere friendship! This kind of relationship is not a bed of roses! It generates deep and excruciating pains beyond all human description as it involves pulling down, shattering and dismantling of all the masks and facades which we wear; so that we may stand as our true selves, unmasked, bare and naked before the one we love! This process of de-masking is the foundation of integral human development.
A man-woman deep friendship touches certain areas within us which man-man or woman-woman relationships could never touch! In this way, it reveals truth and knowledge about ourselves which we can never get from relationships with the people of our own sex. This is so because God in creating a man left in him or in his heart «an invisible space or room» which can only be occupied and filled by a woman and not another man! He created the woman in the same way. Every woman carries within herself that «invisible space or room» which can only be occupied by a man and not by another woman!
So, people who have no deep friendships with the other sex lack something essential, especially, in the area of emotional, moral and spiritual maturity. Man and woman are complementary. So, where this complementarity lacks, something important and essential is missing. But it is very important to know and remember that a man-woman deep friendship does not necessarily mean engaging in sex! We are not slaves of sex! Those engaged in the relationship can forego it, if they judge it to be the best for them.
In general, man-woman deep friendships leads to marriage. But not many marriages in this world are based on this kind of friendship. For example, in many parts of the globe like India we still have arranged marriages! That is, people do not have to be friends in order to get married; it is just something arranged for them by their relatives. And in today’s world we also have many marriages of convenience. That is, people who get married not because they are friends or intend to be so, but simply because marriage fulfils some of their needs for example: sexual, emotional and economic. Some countries have also introduced the controversial same sex marriages!
But deep down, what many people who are still single desire and yearn for is natural or heterosexual marriage based on friendship. In other words, people are single not because they hate marriage or do not want to get married, but simply because they have so far failed to get a partner. They do sense the importance and necessity of man-woman deep friendships in their lives and that for such friendship to work, it must be centred on God! Deep within they also know that man and woman are complementary.
Nigerian Pastor Chris Ojigbani’s Conference: «Getting Married Without Delay» held in Nairobi in September this year was indeed very revealing. It showed how much people yearn for heterosexual marriage. Single women in their thousands looking for husbands from all over Kenya and other parts of Africa poured into Nairobi to seek Ojigbani’s advice and wisdom on how to get a husband, and so, get married without delay! About 10,000 singles attended the conference!
The Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation, Tuesday September 14, 2010 in article: Do we have a husband crisis, gives some wonderful testimonies of some of the women who took part in the conference which clearly demonstrate that they are truly longing for heterosexual marriages based on mutual respect and friendship:
Adiline Mudibo, 31, a business and social worker who travelled all the way from Monrovia in Liberia to attend the conference sai:, «From now on, I will be looking forward to meeting a man who is God-fearing and one who is able to take care of my emotional needs. It is important for me to have a person who when I cry, wipes my tears away and when I laugh, he laughs with me. »
Martha Anjela, a student of design said: «I think getting tips of how to get out of singlehood is one of the greatest lessons one can give to women. I have been assured that every woman has her man tucked away somewhere and this thing of men being fewer than women is a myth. »
And Rebecca Wanjiru, 26, a beauty therapist, had this to say: «By demonstrating that there is a man for each of us, the pastor has really encouraged me. …However, I am not ready to date a Kenyan man as the ones I have encountered have failed me. I am looking forward to a Nigerian or a white man.»
When natural or heterosexual marriage triumphs over single or bachelor’s life and other forms of marriage, this should be a joy for all of us! For this reason, I believe it is the only type of marriage proper to human beings. And I think it is for this reason that our Lord Jesus Christ himself decided to be brought up in a heterosexual marriage of Joseph and Mary his wife.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo at Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Male-female relationships are undoubtedly fundamental and basic for the survival of any human society and indeed of the whole of the human race. This is why God in his wisdom did not create only one gender! He created Adam and Eve. He created them male and female. And experience shows that in spite of all the misunderstandings and sometimes deadly fights among them, man and woman are inseparable.
A male-female relationship manifests itself in two basic forms, of which the first is: ordinary friendship which demands of us respect and charity for all people of the other or opposite sex regardless of whether or not we are sexually attracted to them. And the second one is: deep and intimate friendship which is very personal and between a specific man and a specific woman. It engages all our feelings and forces: physical, psychological and spiritual. And it demands of the two individuals involved, some form of explicit commitment verbal or written to each other. A healthy relationship of this kind as it grows it opens up in a modest and prudent way to everyone. (A relationship of a man and a woman which has no room for others is sick and unhealthy!)
In fact, the key to integral human development that is, growth and maturity at all human levels: physical, mental, psychological, emotional, moral and spiritual lies in man-woman deep and sincere friendship! This kind of relationship is not a bed of roses! It generates deep and excruciating pains beyond all human description as it involves pulling down, shattering and dismantling of all the masks and facades which we wear; so that we may stand as our true selves, unmasked, bare and naked before the one we love! This process of de-masking is the foundation of integral human development.
A man-woman deep friendship touches certain areas within us which man-man or woman-woman relationships could never touch! In this way, it reveals truth and knowledge about ourselves which we can never get from relationships with the people of our own sex. This is so because God in creating a man left in him or in his heart «an invisible space or room» which can only be occupied and filled by a woman and not another man! He created the woman in the same way. Every woman carries within herself that «invisible space or room» which can only be occupied by a man and not by another woman!
So, people who have no deep friendships with the other sex lack something essential, especially, in the area of emotional, moral and spiritual maturity. Man and woman are complementary. So, where this complementarity lacks, something important and essential is missing. But it is very important to know and remember that a man-woman deep friendship does not necessarily mean engaging in sex! We are not slaves of sex! Those engaged in the relationship can forego it, if they judge it to be the best for them.
In general, man-woman deep friendships leads to marriage. But not many marriages in this world are based on this kind of friendship. For example, in many parts of the globe like India we still have arranged marriages! That is, people do not have to be friends in order to get married; it is just something arranged for them by their relatives. And in today’s world we also have many marriages of convenience. That is, people who get married not because they are friends or intend to be so, but simply because marriage fulfils some of their needs for example: sexual, emotional and economic. Some countries have also introduced the controversial same sex marriages!
But deep down, what many people who are still single desire and yearn for is natural or heterosexual marriage based on friendship. In other words, people are single not because they hate marriage or do not want to get married, but simply because they have so far failed to get a partner. They do sense the importance and necessity of man-woman deep friendships in their lives and that for such friendship to work, it must be centred on God! Deep within they also know that man and woman are complementary.
Nigerian Pastor Chris Ojigbani’s Conference: «Getting Married Without Delay» held in Nairobi in September this year was indeed very revealing. It showed how much people yearn for heterosexual marriage. Single women in their thousands looking for husbands from all over Kenya and other parts of Africa poured into Nairobi to seek Ojigbani’s advice and wisdom on how to get a husband, and so, get married without delay! About 10,000 singles attended the conference!
The Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation, Tuesday September 14, 2010 in article: Do we have a husband crisis, gives some wonderful testimonies of some of the women who took part in the conference which clearly demonstrate that they are truly longing for heterosexual marriages based on mutual respect and friendship:
Adiline Mudibo, 31, a business and social worker who travelled all the way from Monrovia in Liberia to attend the conference sai:, «From now on, I will be looking forward to meeting a man who is God-fearing and one who is able to take care of my emotional needs. It is important for me to have a person who when I cry, wipes my tears away and when I laugh, he laughs with me. »
Martha Anjela, a student of design said: «I think getting tips of how to get out of singlehood is one of the greatest lessons one can give to women. I have been assured that every woman has her man tucked away somewhere and this thing of men being fewer than women is a myth. »
And Rebecca Wanjiru, 26, a beauty therapist, had this to say: «By demonstrating that there is a man for each of us, the pastor has really encouraged me. …However, I am not ready to date a Kenyan man as the ones I have encountered have failed me. I am looking forward to a Nigerian or a white man.»
When natural or heterosexual marriage triumphs over single or bachelor’s life and other forms of marriage, this should be a joy for all of us! For this reason, I believe it is the only type of marriage proper to human beings. And I think it is for this reason that our Lord Jesus Christ himself decided to be brought up in a heterosexual marriage of Joseph and Mary his wife.
Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo at Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
When Pandora’s Box is opened
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
When the lid on Pandora’s Box is lifted, will the Catholic Church in Africa stand? In recent years, the entire Body of Christ, the Church has been severely wounded and its image badly damaged by the heavy blows inflicted upon it by sexual scandals that have rocked the Church in the West. Some members of the clergy and religious congregations and Orders have been implicated in the scandals.
In Canada sexual scandals involving some members of the clergy have been reported in several dioceses: British Colombia, Newfoundland, Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec. And reports say that the diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia spent at least $15 million to settle lawsuits filed by victims of sexual abuse by diocese priests dating back to 1950!
In USA, child sexual abuse scandals were first publicized nationally in 1985 when a Louisiana priest pleaded guilty to several accounts of molestation of boys. The situation worsened when five priests of the Archdiocese of Boston were charged with sexual abuse of minors. Gradually, abuses were reported in the other Catholic dioceses of United States. By 2002 it is estimated that Catholic dioceses in USA had spent a total of about one billion dollars on sexual abuse scandals! Eventually, diocese after diocese filed for bankruptcy, for the amounts of money which were required to settle the cases were too big.
Very recently, it has been the sexual scandals in the Catholic Church in Ireland which have dominated the media worldwide. Starting in the 1990s, government inquiries in this country established that hundreds of priests had abused thousands of children in previous decades. And responding to this, in March 2010 Pope Benedict XVI wrote a pastoral letter apologizing for all these scandals carried out by Catholic clergy.
These scandals have damaged the Church spiritually and crippled the finances of the Catholic Church in United States. It is reported that it is the allegations in USA which encouraged victims in other nations to come forward and rapidly create a global crisis.
But generally speaking, the Catholic Church in Africa has so far not been directly affected by these scandals. We just hear of them remotely in the media. But for how long will the situation remain like this? Is it not time that we the Church in Africa began asking ourselves some important question and learn something from what the Church in the West has gone through?
Can we affirm that no sexual scandals have taken place in the Catholic Church in Africa? Can we say that we have never heard of any stories or rumours that might point at least to the possibility that such scandals could have taken place in Africa? If such stories indeed exist, have we made any efforts to find out whether or not they contain a grain of truth? Should we come across hard evidence that such scandals have taken place, what are we going to do? Are we going to wait until we are taken to court or should we make every possible effort to settle these cases out of court? Should it be established that these cases are many, do our dioceses have enough money settle them?
But it is very important to remember that some sexual scandal cases are very complicated and, therefore, very difficult to handle. For example, it is not entirely impossible for some people to fabricate or concoct a sexual scandal case against a priest or religious brother just out of malice to damage his name or to get him out of the post he is holding so that they may occupy it themselves! Also in cases involving adult women and priests or religious we should not be tempted to think that always the women are the victims! Sometimes, these women married or unmarried are the ones who persuade the priests or religious and eventually lead them astray. In which case, it is the priests and religious who are the victims!
Cases in which children were fathered should be handled with extra care; otherwise, they can be permanently damaged psychologically as events unfold. In fact, since all the people implicated in such cases be they victims, offenders or collaborators, are already in a very difficult situation at least spiritually and psychologically, efforts should be made not worsen the situation of any of them. The main goal in handling these cases should be: getting everybody implicated healed, reconciled with God, with their inner self and with each other. If true reconciliation can be arrived at in these cases, that is an excellent sign that inner healing has taken place and all bitterness is gone.
Given the complexity of these cases, I believe it would be a good idea for all National Episcopal Conferences of Africa to put in place committees of experts to deal with them as they rise!
Fr. Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo is from Monastery Val Notre-Dame in Canada.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
When the lid on Pandora’s Box is lifted, will the Catholic Church in Africa stand? In recent years, the entire Body of Christ, the Church has been severely wounded and its image badly damaged by the heavy blows inflicted upon it by sexual scandals that have rocked the Church in the West. Some members of the clergy and religious congregations and Orders have been implicated in the scandals.
In Canada sexual scandals involving some members of the clergy have been reported in several dioceses: British Colombia, Newfoundland, Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec. And reports say that the diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia spent at least $15 million to settle lawsuits filed by victims of sexual abuse by diocese priests dating back to 1950!
In USA, child sexual abuse scandals were first publicized nationally in 1985 when a Louisiana priest pleaded guilty to several accounts of molestation of boys. The situation worsened when five priests of the Archdiocese of Boston were charged with sexual abuse of minors. Gradually, abuses were reported in the other Catholic dioceses of United States. By 2002 it is estimated that Catholic dioceses in USA had spent a total of about one billion dollars on sexual abuse scandals! Eventually, diocese after diocese filed for bankruptcy, for the amounts of money which were required to settle the cases were too big.
Very recently, it has been the sexual scandals in the Catholic Church in Ireland which have dominated the media worldwide. Starting in the 1990s, government inquiries in this country established that hundreds of priests had abused thousands of children in previous decades. And responding to this, in March 2010 Pope Benedict XVI wrote a pastoral letter apologizing for all these scandals carried out by Catholic clergy.
These scandals have damaged the Church spiritually and crippled the finances of the Catholic Church in United States. It is reported that it is the allegations in USA which encouraged victims in other nations to come forward and rapidly create a global crisis.
But generally speaking, the Catholic Church in Africa has so far not been directly affected by these scandals. We just hear of them remotely in the media. But for how long will the situation remain like this? Is it not time that we the Church in Africa began asking ourselves some important question and learn something from what the Church in the West has gone through?
Can we affirm that no sexual scandals have taken place in the Catholic Church in Africa? Can we say that we have never heard of any stories or rumours that might point at least to the possibility that such scandals could have taken place in Africa? If such stories indeed exist, have we made any efforts to find out whether or not they contain a grain of truth? Should we come across hard evidence that such scandals have taken place, what are we going to do? Are we going to wait until we are taken to court or should we make every possible effort to settle these cases out of court? Should it be established that these cases are many, do our dioceses have enough money settle them?
But it is very important to remember that some sexual scandal cases are very complicated and, therefore, very difficult to handle. For example, it is not entirely impossible for some people to fabricate or concoct a sexual scandal case against a priest or religious brother just out of malice to damage his name or to get him out of the post he is holding so that they may occupy it themselves! Also in cases involving adult women and priests or religious we should not be tempted to think that always the women are the victims! Sometimes, these women married or unmarried are the ones who persuade the priests or religious and eventually lead them astray. In which case, it is the priests and religious who are the victims!
Cases in which children were fathered should be handled with extra care; otherwise, they can be permanently damaged psychologically as events unfold. In fact, since all the people implicated in such cases be they victims, offenders or collaborators, are already in a very difficult situation at least spiritually and psychologically, efforts should be made not worsen the situation of any of them. The main goal in handling these cases should be: getting everybody implicated healed, reconciled with God, with their inner self and with each other. If true reconciliation can be arrived at in these cases, that is an excellent sign that inner healing has taken place and all bitterness is gone.
Given the complexity of these cases, I believe it would be a good idea for all National Episcopal Conferences of Africa to put in place committees of experts to deal with them as they rise!
Fr. Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo is from Monastery Val Notre-Dame in Canada.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
Friday, October 22, 2010
SPECIAL Reflection: Mission Sunday
*Fr. Celestino Bundi
Collections taken up for World Mission Sunday, gifts from individual benefactors, and contributions that come in thanks to various missionary projects, are all sent first to the respective National Offices of the Pontifical Mission Societies in each country, and then forwarded to Rome to the General Secretary's Office, to be put in a common fund, the Universal Solidarity Fund.
During the Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Societies, normally held during the month of May, presided by the Archbishop President and the Secretary Generals of the four Societies, participants discuss hundreds of requests from all over the world for funding for building churches, chapels and local centers for apostolate, for aid and formation of seminarians and catechists, for educational projects and activities for children.
The Assembly, taking into account the available economic resources and criteria of equality and justice, decides on the distribution of the funding. Unfortunately, the Universal Solidarity Fund is never large enough to be able to respond positively to all the petitions for aid.
As we approach Mission Sunday on 24th October, it is a moment to share our faith proudly, help others to hear Jesus Christ. In addition, it is an opportunity to participate in alleviating spiritual and material poverty for our brothers and sisters living in hardship mission zones as well as practice our charity to help in building evangelization centers like schools, parish churches, convents, fathers' houses, pastoral centers among others.
As the day draws nearer I am appealing to you to create more awareness among all the faithful on their responsibility to support the church in her needs to become an effective vessel of consolation and salvation. Kindly let us join the universal church following the invitation from our baptism to unite with Pope Benedict XV1 to build ecclesial communion through financial sacrifice and prayer.
As Catholics we have a wonderful responsibility by reason of our baptism, to bring about change for the good of others in our world. But in order to do that, we need to become aware of the necessity to bring about change, first of all in ourselves, and then in our local parish communities. This is what we are asked to do by the Holy Father because people today either consciously or unconsciously wish for change and they also want "to see Jesus".
This is part of the central theme of the message: "Building Ecclesial Communion is the key to Mission" for the celebration of World Mission Sunday this year. It encourages all of us at diocesan and parish levels as well as the Institutes of Consecrated Life, Ecclesial Movements, and the entire People of God to renew our commitment to proclaim the Gospel and give pastoral activity a greater missionary character.
The Holy Father says that each one of us should enrich our lives by an ever-greater awareness of God's unconditional love for us and its experience which transforms our lives. Then through us our ever more divided societies can be changed into an ecclesial communion.
We do this by our own active and creative support within the community and by inviting others so that together we may promote "a new humanism, founded on Jesus' Gospel". "He Himself tells us: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). It is only from this encounter with the Love of God that transforms our existence that we can live in communion with Him and among ourselves and offer our brethren a credible testimony giving reason for our hope (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
Today people are searching for something different in the everyday confusion of our world and many of them want to "see Jesus". As a Christian community we can and should give them witness of our hope, "but that cannot be fulfilled in a credible manner without a profound personal, communal, and pastoral conversion". The messages goes on to thank missionaries for their witness and asks all of us to help to bring about an "integral renewal and to an ever greater openness to missionary cooperation among the Churches, to promote the proclamation of the Gospel in the heart of every person, every people, culture, race, nationality, in every place."
As National director of Pontifical Missionary Societies in Kenya I am obliged to promote this Mission Sunday of the Holy Father and I would like to thank everybody who is cooperating with our Diocesan Directors to ensure successful realization of our special Mission Solidarity Collection to be taken up on 24th October 2010.
As I travel through our country on course of duty to create missionary awareness I can see how our missionaries did great work. We are grateful to them, family members and their benefactors. Many parishes and institutions are today managed by our sons and daughters who need our material support to effectively address the many pastoral needs for better witnessing and service to humanity for glory of God.
Together we are the Church and we are missionaries by reason of our baptism; we are all missionaries and together we can make a difference. It is important to recognize that your kind generosity and prayers truly makes a difference and it is greatly appreciated. I assure you the money will be put into the proper use following the relevant church structures meant for its administration. Our Local Churches throughout the world could not survive without your support.
So let us, "in spite of our economic difficulties" give generously on this Mission Sunday and may we continue as one family in mission to achieve by "prayer, meditation on the Word of God, and study of the truths of the faith" an ever-greater awareness of God's unconditional love for all of us as brothers and sisters.
You may give your donation to your parish priest on Sunday for submission to the Bishop and eventually forwarding to our office or You may write a cheque addressed to:
Pontifical missionary societies
P.O Box 48062-00100 Nairobi
On behalf of Holy Father Pope Benedict XV1, International PMS Secretariat especially Rev. Fr. Timothy Lehane Barrett, SVD, Secretary General of the Propagation of the Faith Rome, our PMS National office and Rt. Rev. Anthony Ireri Mukobo Bishop Chairman Commission for Missions I wish you a fruitful celebration of this important day in our missionary work. May God bless you and increase your faith.
*He is the National Director Ponitifcal Missionary Societies- Kenya
Collections taken up for World Mission Sunday, gifts from individual benefactors, and contributions that come in thanks to various missionary projects, are all sent first to the respective National Offices of the Pontifical Mission Societies in each country, and then forwarded to Rome to the General Secretary's Office, to be put in a common fund, the Universal Solidarity Fund.
During the Annual General Assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Societies, normally held during the month of May, presided by the Archbishop President and the Secretary Generals of the four Societies, participants discuss hundreds of requests from all over the world for funding for building churches, chapels and local centers for apostolate, for aid and formation of seminarians and catechists, for educational projects and activities for children.
The Assembly, taking into account the available economic resources and criteria of equality and justice, decides on the distribution of the funding. Unfortunately, the Universal Solidarity Fund is never large enough to be able to respond positively to all the petitions for aid.
As we approach Mission Sunday on 24th October, it is a moment to share our faith proudly, help others to hear Jesus Christ. In addition, it is an opportunity to participate in alleviating spiritual and material poverty for our brothers and sisters living in hardship mission zones as well as practice our charity to help in building evangelization centers like schools, parish churches, convents, fathers' houses, pastoral centers among others.
As the day draws nearer I am appealing to you to create more awareness among all the faithful on their responsibility to support the church in her needs to become an effective vessel of consolation and salvation. Kindly let us join the universal church following the invitation from our baptism to unite with Pope Benedict XV1 to build ecclesial communion through financial sacrifice and prayer.
As Catholics we have a wonderful responsibility by reason of our baptism, to bring about change for the good of others in our world. But in order to do that, we need to become aware of the necessity to bring about change, first of all in ourselves, and then in our local parish communities. This is what we are asked to do by the Holy Father because people today either consciously or unconsciously wish for change and they also want "to see Jesus".
This is part of the central theme of the message: "Building Ecclesial Communion is the key to Mission" for the celebration of World Mission Sunday this year. It encourages all of us at diocesan and parish levels as well as the Institutes of Consecrated Life, Ecclesial Movements, and the entire People of God to renew our commitment to proclaim the Gospel and give pastoral activity a greater missionary character.
The Holy Father says that each one of us should enrich our lives by an ever-greater awareness of God's unconditional love for us and its experience which transforms our lives. Then through us our ever more divided societies can be changed into an ecclesial communion.
We do this by our own active and creative support within the community and by inviting others so that together we may promote "a new humanism, founded on Jesus' Gospel". "He Himself tells us: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). It is only from this encounter with the Love of God that transforms our existence that we can live in communion with Him and among ourselves and offer our brethren a credible testimony giving reason for our hope (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
Today people are searching for something different in the everyday confusion of our world and many of them want to "see Jesus". As a Christian community we can and should give them witness of our hope, "but that cannot be fulfilled in a credible manner without a profound personal, communal, and pastoral conversion". The messages goes on to thank missionaries for their witness and asks all of us to help to bring about an "integral renewal and to an ever greater openness to missionary cooperation among the Churches, to promote the proclamation of the Gospel in the heart of every person, every people, culture, race, nationality, in every place."
As National director of Pontifical Missionary Societies in Kenya I am obliged to promote this Mission Sunday of the Holy Father and I would like to thank everybody who is cooperating with our Diocesan Directors to ensure successful realization of our special Mission Solidarity Collection to be taken up on 24th October 2010.
As I travel through our country on course of duty to create missionary awareness I can see how our missionaries did great work. We are grateful to them, family members and their benefactors. Many parishes and institutions are today managed by our sons and daughters who need our material support to effectively address the many pastoral needs for better witnessing and service to humanity for glory of God.
Together we are the Church and we are missionaries by reason of our baptism; we are all missionaries and together we can make a difference. It is important to recognize that your kind generosity and prayers truly makes a difference and it is greatly appreciated. I assure you the money will be put into the proper use following the relevant church structures meant for its administration. Our Local Churches throughout the world could not survive without your support.
So let us, "in spite of our economic difficulties" give generously on this Mission Sunday and may we continue as one family in mission to achieve by "prayer, meditation on the Word of God, and study of the truths of the faith" an ever-greater awareness of God's unconditional love for all of us as brothers and sisters.
You may give your donation to your parish priest on Sunday for submission to the Bishop and eventually forwarding to our office or You may write a cheque addressed to:
Pontifical missionary societies
P.O Box 48062-00100 Nairobi
On behalf of Holy Father Pope Benedict XV1, International PMS Secretariat especially Rev. Fr. Timothy Lehane Barrett, SVD, Secretary General of the Propagation of the Faith Rome, our PMS National office and Rt. Rev. Anthony Ireri Mukobo Bishop Chairman Commission for Missions I wish you a fruitful celebration of this important day in our missionary work. May God bless you and increase your faith.
*He is the National Director Ponitifcal Missionary Societies- Kenya
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Analysis of the Counter Trafficking in Persons Bill in Kenya in the Light of Morality, Legality and Culture
*Beginning today we will bring you the above analysis in a two part series courtesy of concerned Catholics in Kenya
History of the Bill
Back in 2004 Kenya ratified the Palermo protocol. In 2007 the government with the help of IOM developed a national plan of action to counter human trafficking. This plan cantered on government ministries and had an opening for the civil society participation. It elaborated activities in prevention, protection and prosecution (commonly known as the 3P). However, the main stumbling block towards the implementation of this plan was the lack of a specific legal instrument. From 2008 to 2009, efforts were intensified to prepare a Kenyan bill to counter human trafficking in and out of the country. The organization that steered this process is known as The Cradle. The preparation of the bill was not easy as earlier versions of the bill were not accepted by the Attorney General. However, by December 2009 the refined bill had been forwarded to the speaker of the national assembly and it underwent the first reading. On the 15th of June it underwent a second reading as a private members bill. On the 6th of July 2010 the third reading was done and the bill was passed. It is currently with the Attorney General of the republic pending its being forwarded to the president who will sign and make it a law of the republic. Our hope remains that the president signs the bill soon enough so that we may have a legal framework in which to prosecute human traffickers.
Rationale
The principal object of the bill is to implement Kenyas obligations under the UN Conventions against Transnational Organized Crime including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children and all other relevant international conventions to which Kenya is party. The Bill further seeks to establish the necessary institutional mechanisms for the protection and support of trafficked persons and to ensure just and effective punishment of traffickers.
It outlines the offence of trafficking in persons and related offences. This will be very important as once this bill is passed onto a law, it will serve as an important reference to bring human traffickers to book and it could forbid child labour, forced detention for exploitative purposes such as labour and sexual exploitation of women and children. The bill is comprehensive enough in curbing various forms of exploitation that occur within the chain process of human trafficking here in referred to as recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring and receiving (RTTHR henceforth). Some of the past laws related to trafficking of children and women include the Immigration Act 1984, Penal Code 1985, Employment Act 2007, Sexual Offences Act 2006, Children Act 2001, Education Policy, Adoption Guidelines, Vision 2030, Childrens Policy and draft national policy on orphans and vulnerable children.
The existence of various bills meant that there was no particular reference frame for the offence of human trafficking. In Kenya, bringing culprits of human trafficking to justice has always been an uphill task because of the lack of this legal framework. Stakeholders of the bill therefore, hope that the government will move swiftly to pass it into law.
The offence of Human Trafficking
In accordance with the Bill the offences of trafficking in persons to include:
trafficking in persons
acts that promote child trafficking
promotion of trafficking in persons
acquisition of travel documents by fraud or misrepresentation
facilitating entry into and exit out of the country
interfering with documents and travel effects
life threatening circumstances or death and lastly
trafficking in persons for organized crime.
i. Trafficking in personssimply defined by the bill as recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring and receiving (RTTHR) another person for the purpose of exploitation by means of
a) threat or use of force or other forms of coercion b) abduction, c) fraud, d) deception, e) abuse of power or position of vulnerability, f) giving payments or benefits to obtain the consent of the victim of trafficking in persons and g) giving or receiving payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over another person.
The bill considers irrelevant the consent of the trafficked person. RTTHR of a child for purposes of exploitation is considered trafficking in persons too. The bill takes into account acts of trafficking committed internally within the borders of Kenya or internationally across the borders of Kenya. The ultimate penalty is life imprisonment in subsequent convictions. If found guilty, one is liable to fifteen years imprisonment or to a fine of five million shillings or to both.
ii. The bill defines child trafficking as adopting, fostering and offering guardianship to a child for human trafficking purposes. This offence is punishable by a fine of not less than fifteen years of a fine Kshs. 10 million or both. Subsequent conviction could lead to life imprisonment.
iii. Promotion of trafficking in persons occurs when knowingly a person gives his/her premises for human trafficking purposes; publishes or imports or exports materials to promote human trafficking; or promoting trafficking in persons in any other way. The punishment for this is ten years imprisonment and a fine of Ksh. 5million or both. Upon subsequent convictions the imprisonment term is fifteen years without the option for a fine.
iv. Facilitating entry into or exit out of the country occurs when a person facilitates aids or abets the exit or entry of persons from or to the country at international airports, territorial boundaries for purposes of trafficking in persons. The punishment is as iii above but on subsequent convictions one is liable for 10 years.
v. Interfering with travel documents and personal effects includes a) confiscating, concealing, altering, destroying or using identification or travel documents of another person in furtherance of trafficking in persons or b) ) confiscating, concealing, altering, destroying or using personal effects of another person or threatening to do so in furtherance of trafficking in persons or in order to prevent that other person from leaving the country or seeking redress from government or appropriate agencies. Punishment is as iv above.
vi. Life threatening circumstances or death: If during the commission of a human trafficking offence the victim suffers life threatening bodily harm that is permanent or dies or is afflicted with life threatening health condition; the person convicted shall be liable for life imprisonment.
vii. Trafficking in persons for organized crime: occurs when a person engages in trafficking in persons as part of an organized criminal group or the person organizes and directs other persons to commit an offence as an activity of an organized group. The punishment for this is imprisonment for life.
An omission in this section includes the treatment of diplomats. Diplomatic immunity is also a factor in many cases of human trafficking . The Bill has not addressed this issue. This means that the person should be separable when it comes to the commission of criminal acts. The miscellaneous section of the Bill however criminalizes acts by government officers facilitating the acquisition of travel documents for purposes of human trafficking.
Victim Protection
In recognition of the fact that victims of trafficking pass through horrendous experiences during their ordeals the bill provides for their privacy during hearings. The courts may even decide that some of the sessions be held in camera. It is, therefore, important in this case that those who bring a suit on behalf of the victim to the courts (i.e. the state) understand fully the circumstances that the victim passed through so as a determination may be made as to whether the sessions should be held in camera or not. This requires good level of competence in dealing with cases of this nature.
The Bill also proposes that publishing the proceedings held in camera is an offence. The court apart from imprisoning the culprit may also order him or her to compensate the victim. The victim is also given immunity from prosecution. While this immunity is important for the genuine victims, care must be taken that it is not used as a loophole to advance criminal activities. The bill empowers the minister in charge of gender formulate plans for the provision of appropriate services for victims of trafficking in the light of the 3Ps. In order to help the victim find recourse the bill provides that
The victim will be eligible to work during their duration of necessary presence in Kenya
Remain in Kenya until their legal proceeding are concluded
Be communicated to in a language he/she understands
Exempted from court fines
Assistance in repatriation
So far, there are many challenges in todays Kenya as far as victim assistance is concerned. It will be important to ensure that the legal system is made to work faster in cases of this nature so as it does not become burdensome for a victim taking time in Kenya waiting for justice. Secondly, there are very few safe havens for trafficking victims. At times, victims have been placed in police custody while waiting for the final recourse. Repatriation always poses a challenge; is it enough to give the victim money to go home or to put him/her in an efficient transport means back home? Certainly not, as the victim will need to be assisted reintegrate back to her/his original society fully. Reintegration is first self restoration and second, the ability to fit into the society. It must be observed here that the victim coming from a trafficking ordeal might have been subjected to a heavy legal ordeal and other energy draining ordeals in a strange place. Many a time they experience shame and bitterness which is directed to their home societies. Hence the costs of rehabilitation and reintegration are just too enormous and can only be met superficially in order to fully meet the needs of the victims. Lastly, issues of psycho social accompaniment in order to help the victim deal with the aftermath effects of trauma are important; including psychological counselling and religious accompaniment.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
History of the Bill
Back in 2004 Kenya ratified the Palermo protocol. In 2007 the government with the help of IOM developed a national plan of action to counter human trafficking. This plan cantered on government ministries and had an opening for the civil society participation. It elaborated activities in prevention, protection and prosecution (commonly known as the 3P). However, the main stumbling block towards the implementation of this plan was the lack of a specific legal instrument. From 2008 to 2009, efforts were intensified to prepare a Kenyan bill to counter human trafficking in and out of the country. The organization that steered this process is known as The Cradle. The preparation of the bill was not easy as earlier versions of the bill were not accepted by the Attorney General. However, by December 2009 the refined bill had been forwarded to the speaker of the national assembly and it underwent the first reading. On the 15th of June it underwent a second reading as a private members bill. On the 6th of July 2010 the third reading was done and the bill was passed. It is currently with the Attorney General of the republic pending its being forwarded to the president who will sign and make it a law of the republic. Our hope remains that the president signs the bill soon enough so that we may have a legal framework in which to prosecute human traffickers.
Rationale
The principal object of the bill is to implement Kenyas obligations under the UN Conventions against Transnational Organized Crime including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children and all other relevant international conventions to which Kenya is party. The Bill further seeks to establish the necessary institutional mechanisms for the protection and support of trafficked persons and to ensure just and effective punishment of traffickers.
It outlines the offence of trafficking in persons and related offences. This will be very important as once this bill is passed onto a law, it will serve as an important reference to bring human traffickers to book and it could forbid child labour, forced detention for exploitative purposes such as labour and sexual exploitation of women and children. The bill is comprehensive enough in curbing various forms of exploitation that occur within the chain process of human trafficking here in referred to as recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring and receiving (RTTHR henceforth). Some of the past laws related to trafficking of children and women include the Immigration Act 1984, Penal Code 1985, Employment Act 2007, Sexual Offences Act 2006, Children Act 2001, Education Policy, Adoption Guidelines, Vision 2030, Childrens Policy and draft national policy on orphans and vulnerable children.
The existence of various bills meant that there was no particular reference frame for the offence of human trafficking. In Kenya, bringing culprits of human trafficking to justice has always been an uphill task because of the lack of this legal framework. Stakeholders of the bill therefore, hope that the government will move swiftly to pass it into law.
The offence of Human Trafficking
In accordance with the Bill the offences of trafficking in persons to include:
trafficking in persons
acts that promote child trafficking
promotion of trafficking in persons
acquisition of travel documents by fraud or misrepresentation
facilitating entry into and exit out of the country
interfering with documents and travel effects
life threatening circumstances or death and lastly
trafficking in persons for organized crime.
i. Trafficking in personssimply defined by the bill as recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring and receiving (RTTHR) another person for the purpose of exploitation by means of
a) threat or use of force or other forms of coercion b) abduction, c) fraud, d) deception, e) abuse of power or position of vulnerability, f) giving payments or benefits to obtain the consent of the victim of trafficking in persons and g) giving or receiving payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over another person.
The bill considers irrelevant the consent of the trafficked person. RTTHR of a child for purposes of exploitation is considered trafficking in persons too. The bill takes into account acts of trafficking committed internally within the borders of Kenya or internationally across the borders of Kenya. The ultimate penalty is life imprisonment in subsequent convictions. If found guilty, one is liable to fifteen years imprisonment or to a fine of five million shillings or to both.
ii. The bill defines child trafficking as adopting, fostering and offering guardianship to a child for human trafficking purposes. This offence is punishable by a fine of not less than fifteen years of a fine Kshs. 10 million or both. Subsequent conviction could lead to life imprisonment.
iii. Promotion of trafficking in persons occurs when knowingly a person gives his/her premises for human trafficking purposes; publishes or imports or exports materials to promote human trafficking; or promoting trafficking in persons in any other way. The punishment for this is ten years imprisonment and a fine of Ksh. 5million or both. Upon subsequent convictions the imprisonment term is fifteen years without the option for a fine.
iv. Facilitating entry into or exit out of the country occurs when a person facilitates aids or abets the exit or entry of persons from or to the country at international airports, territorial boundaries for purposes of trafficking in persons. The punishment is as iii above but on subsequent convictions one is liable for 10 years.
v. Interfering with travel documents and personal effects includes a) confiscating, concealing, altering, destroying or using identification or travel documents of another person in furtherance of trafficking in persons or b) ) confiscating, concealing, altering, destroying or using personal effects of another person or threatening to do so in furtherance of trafficking in persons or in order to prevent that other person from leaving the country or seeking redress from government or appropriate agencies. Punishment is as iv above.
vi. Life threatening circumstances or death: If during the commission of a human trafficking offence the victim suffers life threatening bodily harm that is permanent or dies or is afflicted with life threatening health condition; the person convicted shall be liable for life imprisonment.
vii. Trafficking in persons for organized crime: occurs when a person engages in trafficking in persons as part of an organized criminal group or the person organizes and directs other persons to commit an offence as an activity of an organized group. The punishment for this is imprisonment for life.
An omission in this section includes the treatment of diplomats. Diplomatic immunity is also a factor in many cases of human trafficking . The Bill has not addressed this issue. This means that the person should be separable when it comes to the commission of criminal acts. The miscellaneous section of the Bill however criminalizes acts by government officers facilitating the acquisition of travel documents for purposes of human trafficking.
Victim Protection
In recognition of the fact that victims of trafficking pass through horrendous experiences during their ordeals the bill provides for their privacy during hearings. The courts may even decide that some of the sessions be held in camera. It is, therefore, important in this case that those who bring a suit on behalf of the victim to the courts (i.e. the state) understand fully the circumstances that the victim passed through so as a determination may be made as to whether the sessions should be held in camera or not. This requires good level of competence in dealing with cases of this nature.
The Bill also proposes that publishing the proceedings held in camera is an offence. The court apart from imprisoning the culprit may also order him or her to compensate the victim. The victim is also given immunity from prosecution. While this immunity is important for the genuine victims, care must be taken that it is not used as a loophole to advance criminal activities. The bill empowers the minister in charge of gender formulate plans for the provision of appropriate services for victims of trafficking in the light of the 3Ps. In order to help the victim find recourse the bill provides that
The victim will be eligible to work during their duration of necessary presence in Kenya
Remain in Kenya until their legal proceeding are concluded
Be communicated to in a language he/she understands
Exempted from court fines
Assistance in repatriation
So far, there are many challenges in todays Kenya as far as victim assistance is concerned. It will be important to ensure that the legal system is made to work faster in cases of this nature so as it does not become burdensome for a victim taking time in Kenya waiting for justice. Secondly, there are very few safe havens for trafficking victims. At times, victims have been placed in police custody while waiting for the final recourse. Repatriation always poses a challenge; is it enough to give the victim money to go home or to put him/her in an efficient transport means back home? Certainly not, as the victim will need to be assisted reintegrate back to her/his original society fully. Reintegration is first self restoration and second, the ability to fit into the society. It must be observed here that the victim coming from a trafficking ordeal might have been subjected to a heavy legal ordeal and other energy draining ordeals in a strange place. Many a time they experience shame and bitterness which is directed to their home societies. Hence the costs of rehabilitation and reintegration are just too enormous and can only be met superficially in order to fully meet the needs of the victims. Lastly, issues of psycho social accompaniment in order to help the victim deal with the aftermath effects of trauma are important; including psychological counselling and religious accompaniment.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
Friday, October 8, 2010
Islam's position on homosexuality
*Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Phillips
Homosexuality and lesbianism have been dubbed 'alternative lifestyles', 'personal preference', 'natural variation', etc. In the West today, where homosexuality was once considered an illness by the Association of Psychiatrists, it has now been removed from the list and replaced by homophobia (the dislike of homosexuals and homosexuality).
Consequently, Islam and Muslims are considered intolerant and biased due to their continued opposition. Arguments in favour of tolerance towards homosexuals are based on the assumption that homosexual behaviour is biologically based and not merely learned from society.
Early opposition to homosexuality was based on the argument that such behaviour was unnatural. Sodomy cannot produce children, which is one of the main natural consequences of sexual relations. 'Mother Nature' did not make us that way, it was argued. To counter such arguments, homosexual researchers scoured the earth until they found supposed homosexual behaviour among the animal kingdom.
They found that the males of some species of exotic fishes off the coast of Japan imitated the behaviour of females of the species in order to prevent other males from impregnating their mates, and some rare butterflies from islands off the coast of Africa also had males exhibiting female behaviour during mating season, etc. However, if the animal kingdom is to be used to justify human behaviour, there also exists a spider in South America whose female is much larger than the male. When mating is complete, the female eats her mate.
During the 1980’s it was claimed that a gland in the base of the brain which is small in women and large in men was found to be small among homosexuals. However, this evidence, while seeming incontrovertible to the layman, was immediately refuted by scientists.
The data was taken from cross-sections of the brains of dead adult humans whose sexual preference was identified prior to death. Consequently, the reduced size of that gland among homosexuals could have been a result of the practice and not its cause.
That is, they could have been born with normal-sized glands which then became small due to their deviant lifestyle. Recently, genetics has become the most commonly used foundation for the pro-gay argument. In 1993 Dr. Dean Hamer, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute, claimed to have discovered 'the first concrete evidence that ‘gay genes’ really do exist.'
Homosexual orientation was supposedly transmitted to males on the X chromosome from the mother. Hamer’s findings, published in the prestigious journal 'Science', transformed his colourless career as a government scientist into a dynamic media personality and he penned his memoirs. He gave expert testimony to the Colorado Supreme Court that formed the basis of the victorious decision striking down anti-gay propositions.
However, a replication of his study at the University of Western Ontario failed to find any linkage whatsoever between the X chromosome and sexual orientation. It was also found that Hamer’s study lacked a control group; a fundamental principle of scientific research.
Furthermore, in June 1994, the Chicago Tribune reported that a junior researcher in Hamer’s laboratory, who assisted in the gene mapping in the homosexuality study, alleged that he selectively reported his data. She was then summarily dismissed from her post-doctoral fellowship in Hamer’s lab. But a National Institute of Health investigation substantiated her claims and gave her another position in a different lab.
Though Dr. Hamer was coy about his own sexuality in his memoirs, he later admitted in his lectures that he was gay. It should be noted that Islam, in its final form, did not introduce antigay legislature to the world.
The texts of the Torah are replete with clear condemnations of such practices. The consequence of AIDS is enough to prove that homosexuality is evil and dangerous to society. The early spread of AIDS was concentrated among the homosexual community. It later spread to the heterosexual and the so-called bisexual community through blood transfusions and intravenous drug usage. Its spread continues on a rampage among promiscuous heterosexuals.
Islam considers homosexuality to be the result of a choice.
It is inconceivable that God made people homosexuals then declared it a crime and prescribed punishments for it in both this life and the next. To accept such a proposition is to accept that God is unjust. Inclinations can exist within humans for a variety of natural and unnatural acts, from fornication to rape and from necrophilia to bestiality.
These inclinations may come from jinn-suggestions, media influence, or even from human whisperings or direct contact. Sodomy was common among the people of Prophet Loot (Lot), may Allah exalt his mention, who lived in Sodom, Palestine; after they had rejected his advice to give up this evil practice, Allah Almighty crushed and then annihilated their city.
The Quran describes that punishment in the verse which means: "So when our commandment came, We made the highest part [of the city] its lowest and rained upon them stones of hard clay in succession." [Quran: 11:82] Human beings are not like robots that only do what they are programmed to.
Humans choose and God holds them responsible for their choices. Were homosexuality a product of genetic destiny, it would be unfair for God to criminalise it and punish those who practice it. Currently, some scientists are even claiming that murder is of genetic origin. To accept that would mean to excuse murderers and tolerate murder. Islam instructs parents to separate their children in their beds by the age of ten in order to avoid sexual experiences which may result from childhood experimentation.
Such experiences may be reinforced by contacts in schools and through abuse from adults.
Also, the distinctions between male and female are strongly made in Islamic teachings.
"The Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam cursed the man who wears women’s clothes and the woman who wears men’s clothes." [Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah]
*Dr. Abu is a reknowned Muslim Scholar with wide teaching experience
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA.
Homosexuality and lesbianism have been dubbed 'alternative lifestyles', 'personal preference', 'natural variation', etc. In the West today, where homosexuality was once considered an illness by the Association of Psychiatrists, it has now been removed from the list and replaced by homophobia (the dislike of homosexuals and homosexuality).
Consequently, Islam and Muslims are considered intolerant and biased due to their continued opposition. Arguments in favour of tolerance towards homosexuals are based on the assumption that homosexual behaviour is biologically based and not merely learned from society.
Early opposition to homosexuality was based on the argument that such behaviour was unnatural. Sodomy cannot produce children, which is one of the main natural consequences of sexual relations. 'Mother Nature' did not make us that way, it was argued. To counter such arguments, homosexual researchers scoured the earth until they found supposed homosexual behaviour among the animal kingdom.
They found that the males of some species of exotic fishes off the coast of Japan imitated the behaviour of females of the species in order to prevent other males from impregnating their mates, and some rare butterflies from islands off the coast of Africa also had males exhibiting female behaviour during mating season, etc. However, if the animal kingdom is to be used to justify human behaviour, there also exists a spider in South America whose female is much larger than the male. When mating is complete, the female eats her mate.
During the 1980’s it was claimed that a gland in the base of the brain which is small in women and large in men was found to be small among homosexuals. However, this evidence, while seeming incontrovertible to the layman, was immediately refuted by scientists.
The data was taken from cross-sections of the brains of dead adult humans whose sexual preference was identified prior to death. Consequently, the reduced size of that gland among homosexuals could have been a result of the practice and not its cause.
That is, they could have been born with normal-sized glands which then became small due to their deviant lifestyle. Recently, genetics has become the most commonly used foundation for the pro-gay argument. In 1993 Dr. Dean Hamer, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute, claimed to have discovered 'the first concrete evidence that ‘gay genes’ really do exist.'
Homosexual orientation was supposedly transmitted to males on the X chromosome from the mother. Hamer’s findings, published in the prestigious journal 'Science', transformed his colourless career as a government scientist into a dynamic media personality and he penned his memoirs. He gave expert testimony to the Colorado Supreme Court that formed the basis of the victorious decision striking down anti-gay propositions.
However, a replication of his study at the University of Western Ontario failed to find any linkage whatsoever between the X chromosome and sexual orientation. It was also found that Hamer’s study lacked a control group; a fundamental principle of scientific research.
Furthermore, in June 1994, the Chicago Tribune reported that a junior researcher in Hamer’s laboratory, who assisted in the gene mapping in the homosexuality study, alleged that he selectively reported his data. She was then summarily dismissed from her post-doctoral fellowship in Hamer’s lab. But a National Institute of Health investigation substantiated her claims and gave her another position in a different lab.
Though Dr. Hamer was coy about his own sexuality in his memoirs, he later admitted in his lectures that he was gay. It should be noted that Islam, in its final form, did not introduce antigay legislature to the world.
The texts of the Torah are replete with clear condemnations of such practices. The consequence of AIDS is enough to prove that homosexuality is evil and dangerous to society. The early spread of AIDS was concentrated among the homosexual community. It later spread to the heterosexual and the so-called bisexual community through blood transfusions and intravenous drug usage. Its spread continues on a rampage among promiscuous heterosexuals.
Islam considers homosexuality to be the result of a choice.
It is inconceivable that God made people homosexuals then declared it a crime and prescribed punishments for it in both this life and the next. To accept such a proposition is to accept that God is unjust. Inclinations can exist within humans for a variety of natural and unnatural acts, from fornication to rape and from necrophilia to bestiality.
These inclinations may come from jinn-suggestions, media influence, or even from human whisperings or direct contact. Sodomy was common among the people of Prophet Loot (Lot), may Allah exalt his mention, who lived in Sodom, Palestine; after they had rejected his advice to give up this evil practice, Allah Almighty crushed and then annihilated their city.
The Quran describes that punishment in the verse which means: "So when our commandment came, We made the highest part [of the city] its lowest and rained upon them stones of hard clay in succession." [Quran: 11:82] Human beings are not like robots that only do what they are programmed to.
Humans choose and God holds them responsible for their choices. Were homosexuality a product of genetic destiny, it would be unfair for God to criminalise it and punish those who practice it. Currently, some scientists are even claiming that murder is of genetic origin. To accept that would mean to excuse murderers and tolerate murder. Islam instructs parents to separate their children in their beds by the age of ten in order to avoid sexual experiences which may result from childhood experimentation.
Such experiences may be reinforced by contacts in schools and through abuse from adults.
Also, the distinctions between male and female are strongly made in Islamic teachings.
"The Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam cursed the man who wears women’s clothes and the woman who wears men’s clothes." [Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah]
*Dr. Abu is a reknowned Muslim Scholar with wide teaching experience
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Could More Women Transform Politics?
* Michael Edwards
“It’s high time Oxfam got in touch with its feminine side.” As my policy recommendation as the departing Field Director in Lusaka I’ll admit that my judgment raised some eyebrows on the senior management team, though I remember the Gender Advisor liked it. I’m not even sure I knew what I was saying, but I was definitely uncomfortable with the aggressive growth-and-competition-oriented tendencies that were beginning to infect large charities by the mid-1980s.
Where was openness to learning, or sharing, self-sacrifice, empathy and flexibility – all qualities that I thought were essential to Oxfam’s mission of supporting the empowerment and nurturing of others? Presumably they lay with women, as all the books I remember reading told me at the time, though they were more personal than political.
That set me thinking: since the wider landscape of politics was heading in the same direction – competing for power but rarely using it in liberating ways - maybe women, or the qualities traditionally associated with them, held the key to political transformation on a much bigger scale? Of course, getting more women into politics is not a new idea, and on the surface, you’d be hard put to find anyone against it. But the argument is usually framed in terms of the pragmatic virtues of diversity, not the deeper implications of equality. Could more women in politics transform politics - and if so how?
That’s an intriguing question. But it’s irrelevant until women actually possess equality of participation, at which point one could make a sensible judgment about the matter. We don’t encourage Catholics or African Americans to take part in politics because of the distinctive qualities they bring to the table, but because equal participation is everybody’s right and the same argument applies to women. As a result of biology, socialization or a mixture of the two over a good few thousand years, it may well be true that women possess characteristics that could make politics more than a zero-sum game between narrow political interests. But as individuals, women are just as diverse, difficult and daft as men, and all of us have the ability to love, and to express love in the public sphere, even if some of us actively repress it.
And that’s the crucial point: since equality rests on radical upheavals in social structures as well as individual behaviour – a complete re-ordering of the care economy, for example, and a revolution in male attitudes towards co-operation and compassion – it’s a fair bet that politics would be transformed in the process of securing it. In fact, putting the emphasis on equality creates a much stronger foundation for change than promoting more diversity in politics as we know it. On its own, that’s a strategy that virtually guarantees, not only that relatively few women will rise to the top, but also that those who do so will practice politics in ways that are often indistinguishable from men, since there are so few incentives to test real alternatives.
For example, equal participation in domestic work would free up time for women to participate in politics on a much more regular basis, and create routes to sustainable leadership in the process. Shared, physical acts of caring, compromise and negotiation could fashion a different set of skills for use on the broader political stage. And the same combination of empathy, strength and flexibility that is honed in the tasks of nurturing healthy human relationships might enable protagonists to argue through their political differences rather than embedding them permanently in the polity. Social activists call this ‘straight back, soft front’ – the ability to hold fast to your long-term vision and values while pursuing them in lots of different ways, some of which may even contradict your own short-term interests.
Although it is unfashionable to say so, democracy cannot be deepened through social media or the internet. The deep foundations of politics have to be re-fashioned through the pursuit of radical equality at every turn, face-to-face, and from the bottom up. Only encounters between equals can re-weave power relations into a fabric capable of sustaining new institutions built around caring, love and justice. As the building blocks of equality are put into place, values and commitments are forced into an open confrontation, and change occurs. Of course, political differences do not disappear, but better ways of handling them become available, methods which enable politics to be transformative as well as to be transformed, and to support breakthroughs in decision-making in favour of the public good which are not simply dismantled when the next party comes to power.
What’s important here is that transformation is for everyone – we can’t rely on women to transform politics for the rest of us, a position that seems just a tad unfair given that they already sustain pretty much everything else of value in the world. So the acceptance of radical equality is the only real starting point for political transformation. This is “pre-figurative” politics at its best – the art of practicing the change you want to see in the world as a way of modelling healthier organizations and communities, and eventually whole new institutions and processes of governance.
But, turning the argument around, it’s also true that political institutions can be reformed in ways that are more welcoming to new forms of engagement, and that’s a task that doesn’t depend on immediate upheavals in personal or social relations. For example, reserving quotas for women candidates in India’s decentralized system of non-party village politics has already had substantive effects on political outcomes, and is beginning to have a deeper impact on gender relations too. Or take participatory budgeting, which has spread around the world from its roots in Brazil. It works both as a practical device for allocating resources more fairly, and as a crucible for fashioning new alliances and relationships across different social groups. When the forms and norms of politics come together in these ways, change becomes self-reinforcing.
The problem is that so few of these innovations are visible at scale or in the mainstream, and they seem so far distant from the determinedly non-transformative politics that are practiced in most of the world today. The reason is clear – pre-figurative politics make ‘winning’ much more difficult, at least in the conventional sense of accumulating enough political power to defeat your opponents, preferably forever. But that, of course, is the point, and it’s why feminism’s most important teaching – that ‘the personal is political’ and vice-versa, remains so absolutely important. Equality between men and women is the foundation of transformative politics. So we might as well get started with the washing up.
*Michael Edwards is a distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos: a Network for Ideas and Action in New York, and the author of Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
“It’s high time Oxfam got in touch with its feminine side.” As my policy recommendation as the departing Field Director in Lusaka I’ll admit that my judgment raised some eyebrows on the senior management team, though I remember the Gender Advisor liked it. I’m not even sure I knew what I was saying, but I was definitely uncomfortable with the aggressive growth-and-competition-oriented tendencies that were beginning to infect large charities by the mid-1980s.
Where was openness to learning, or sharing, self-sacrifice, empathy and flexibility – all qualities that I thought were essential to Oxfam’s mission of supporting the empowerment and nurturing of others? Presumably they lay with women, as all the books I remember reading told me at the time, though they were more personal than political.
That set me thinking: since the wider landscape of politics was heading in the same direction – competing for power but rarely using it in liberating ways - maybe women, or the qualities traditionally associated with them, held the key to political transformation on a much bigger scale? Of course, getting more women into politics is not a new idea, and on the surface, you’d be hard put to find anyone against it. But the argument is usually framed in terms of the pragmatic virtues of diversity, not the deeper implications of equality. Could more women in politics transform politics - and if so how?
That’s an intriguing question. But it’s irrelevant until women actually possess equality of participation, at which point one could make a sensible judgment about the matter. We don’t encourage Catholics or African Americans to take part in politics because of the distinctive qualities they bring to the table, but because equal participation is everybody’s right and the same argument applies to women. As a result of biology, socialization or a mixture of the two over a good few thousand years, it may well be true that women possess characteristics that could make politics more than a zero-sum game between narrow political interests. But as individuals, women are just as diverse, difficult and daft as men, and all of us have the ability to love, and to express love in the public sphere, even if some of us actively repress it.
And that’s the crucial point: since equality rests on radical upheavals in social structures as well as individual behaviour – a complete re-ordering of the care economy, for example, and a revolution in male attitudes towards co-operation and compassion – it’s a fair bet that politics would be transformed in the process of securing it. In fact, putting the emphasis on equality creates a much stronger foundation for change than promoting more diversity in politics as we know it. On its own, that’s a strategy that virtually guarantees, not only that relatively few women will rise to the top, but also that those who do so will practice politics in ways that are often indistinguishable from men, since there are so few incentives to test real alternatives.
For example, equal participation in domestic work would free up time for women to participate in politics on a much more regular basis, and create routes to sustainable leadership in the process. Shared, physical acts of caring, compromise and negotiation could fashion a different set of skills for use on the broader political stage. And the same combination of empathy, strength and flexibility that is honed in the tasks of nurturing healthy human relationships might enable protagonists to argue through their political differences rather than embedding them permanently in the polity. Social activists call this ‘straight back, soft front’ – the ability to hold fast to your long-term vision and values while pursuing them in lots of different ways, some of which may even contradict your own short-term interests.
Although it is unfashionable to say so, democracy cannot be deepened through social media or the internet. The deep foundations of politics have to be re-fashioned through the pursuit of radical equality at every turn, face-to-face, and from the bottom up. Only encounters between equals can re-weave power relations into a fabric capable of sustaining new institutions built around caring, love and justice. As the building blocks of equality are put into place, values and commitments are forced into an open confrontation, and change occurs. Of course, political differences do not disappear, but better ways of handling them become available, methods which enable politics to be transformative as well as to be transformed, and to support breakthroughs in decision-making in favour of the public good which are not simply dismantled when the next party comes to power.
What’s important here is that transformation is for everyone – we can’t rely on women to transform politics for the rest of us, a position that seems just a tad unfair given that they already sustain pretty much everything else of value in the world. So the acceptance of radical equality is the only real starting point for political transformation. This is “pre-figurative” politics at its best – the art of practicing the change you want to see in the world as a way of modelling healthier organizations and communities, and eventually whole new institutions and processes of governance.
But, turning the argument around, it’s also true that political institutions can be reformed in ways that are more welcoming to new forms of engagement, and that’s a task that doesn’t depend on immediate upheavals in personal or social relations. For example, reserving quotas for women candidates in India’s decentralized system of non-party village politics has already had substantive effects on political outcomes, and is beginning to have a deeper impact on gender relations too. Or take participatory budgeting, which has spread around the world from its roots in Brazil. It works both as a practical device for allocating resources more fairly, and as a crucible for fashioning new alliances and relationships across different social groups. When the forms and norms of politics come together in these ways, change becomes self-reinforcing.
The problem is that so few of these innovations are visible at scale or in the mainstream, and they seem so far distant from the determinedly non-transformative politics that are practiced in most of the world today. The reason is clear – pre-figurative politics make ‘winning’ much more difficult, at least in the conventional sense of accumulating enough political power to defeat your opponents, preferably forever. But that, of course, is the point, and it’s why feminism’s most important teaching – that ‘the personal is political’ and vice-versa, remains so absolutely important. Equality between men and women is the foundation of transformative politics. So we might as well get started with the washing up.
*Michael Edwards is a distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos: a Network for Ideas and Action in New York, and the author of Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World.
Views expressed in this section do not necessarily represent the opinions of CISA
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Kenya's New Constrained Presidentialism
*Siddhartha Haria
Millions of words have been written on Kenya's constitutional reform process. Therefore, given the chance to add yet more words to his vast literature I would like to address some issues that have not been given the attention they deserve – the importance of tactics and accident in getting where we are now – and to acknowledge the role of some individuals who were instrumental to the process, but have not received the international attention the principals, President. Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have. It has recently become fashionable in Kenya to state that the “hard part” starts now, with the enactment of 49 pieces of subsidiary legislation. Nonsense! The 'hard part', at least in terms of constitution-making is over.
Nothing can compare to this 20 year struggle to produce this document. There have been plenty of ups and downs, delays and reversals. It was supposed to kick-off with introduction of multi-party democracy in 1992. Moi promised 1995 was the 'year of the new constitution'. Kibaki promised a new constitution within 100 days of taking office in 2003.
Moreover, it has exhaustively inclusive – even as an annoying twelve-year old, I received a response to my contribution from the former review chairman Prof. Ghai and reformist MP Paul Muite. This inclusive process has generated a real sense of ownership; this constitution has not come from an ivory tower. With such ownership this constitution will not easily be undone, in the way Uganda's has for example.
Kenyans know their constitutional law, for example, it is quite common in Nairobi to have an advanced discussion on the separation of powers with anyone. Unfortunately, Kenya's broader process of democratization has also had a darker side: many lives have been lost in political and ethnic violence. Still, the blood, sweat and tears of Kenyans was not enough to deliver a new constitution. Kenyan politics was stuck. It was easy for politicians such as Mwai Kibaki to promise reform in opposition, but become reluctant when in power. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas.
Genuine reform threatened to upset vested interests. It is down to chance and circumstances that these obstacles were overcome. Firstly, Kibaki was after the disputed election a second term President, not eligible to run again. Therefore, he was less interested in opposing reforms that would mainly constrain his successor, not him. Indeed the enormous value of term limits should be clear; throughout Africa they have helped midwife political change by changing the incentives of the incumbent. Moreover that disputed election threatened to tarnish his legacy, helped concentrate minds at home and renew pressure abroad. It is a cliché, but it took crisis to bring real reform. In the aftermath of the crisis Kenyan MPs passed legislation to re-start the review process. Martha Karua drew up a watertight bill that basically put the process on auto-pilot. If politicians failed to play their role, there were mechanisms for the process to continue. It is puzzling that Kenyan MPs passed such bold legislation that bound them to completing the reform process. The answer is simply they were sleeping, not paying attention to the laws they were enacting. Indeed several MPs, including, William Ruto, leader of the 'No' Camp, later expressed surprise at provisions that only required a simple majority to pass the document on to the referendum stage, but a two-thirds majority to amend it. We owe our new constitution to such accidents. In comparison it will be much easier to pass the 49-odd subsidiary laws, the threat of dissolution and attendant loss of perks will keep our MPs working. This new constitution, despite being the product of a messy political compromise, is a good document. At one stage the reform process became bogged down in a battle between proponents of presidential and parliamentary systems as well as advocates of various hybrids.
Credit is due to the young, first-time MP, Abdikadir Hussein Mohammed, as chairman of the parliamentary select committee for helping craft a genuinely presidential system with stringent checks and balances that nobody loved but nearly everyone could live with.
There are a number of other desirable reforms included:
• The President must win over half the votes in an election, with provision for a run-off. This will prevent a candidate lacking broad national support being elected because of ethnic splits.
• Key Presidential appointments require parliamentary approval.
• The old KANU tool of executive political control, the Provincial Administration is abolished, replaced by a system of devolution.
• The sharing of power and revenue through devolution should help reverse the marginalization of parts of Kenya. More importantly it means groups that do not capture the presidency are not locked out of power all together.
• Constituencies have to of a nearly equal size with limits on how much their population vary, ending a long history of gerrymandering.
These reforms are not a boilerplate wish-list; they are not prescriptions of motherhood and apple pie. They change the incentives political players face and have the potential to transform politics. It is customary for pieces on Kenya to note our troubles with our northern neighbour Somalia. I would like to end on a different note and point to an observation made by Charles Onyango-Obbo, that if Kenya has a 'Somali headache' it also has a 'Somali dividend.' With mistrust between the larger ethnic groups, Kenyan Somalis are called upon to act as neutral brokers. They have certainly risen to the task. Abdikadir Hussein Mohammed, mentioned above, is a Kenyan Somali from an unprivileged background who through hard work made it to Harvard. The chairman of Interim Independent Electoral Commission, Issack Hassan who made sure the referendum was the most credible electoral exercise in Kenya's history is another Kenyan Somali. They are amongst the finest public officials we have. *This opinion by Siddhartha Haria was first published in the OpenDemocracy on August 23, 2010
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
Millions of words have been written on Kenya's constitutional reform process. Therefore, given the chance to add yet more words to his vast literature I would like to address some issues that have not been given the attention they deserve – the importance of tactics and accident in getting where we are now – and to acknowledge the role of some individuals who were instrumental to the process, but have not received the international attention the principals, President. Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have. It has recently become fashionable in Kenya to state that the “hard part” starts now, with the enactment of 49 pieces of subsidiary legislation. Nonsense! The 'hard part', at least in terms of constitution-making is over.
Nothing can compare to this 20 year struggle to produce this document. There have been plenty of ups and downs, delays and reversals. It was supposed to kick-off with introduction of multi-party democracy in 1992. Moi promised 1995 was the 'year of the new constitution'. Kibaki promised a new constitution within 100 days of taking office in 2003.
Moreover, it has exhaustively inclusive – even as an annoying twelve-year old, I received a response to my contribution from the former review chairman Prof. Ghai and reformist MP Paul Muite. This inclusive process has generated a real sense of ownership; this constitution has not come from an ivory tower. With such ownership this constitution will not easily be undone, in the way Uganda's has for example.
Kenyans know their constitutional law, for example, it is quite common in Nairobi to have an advanced discussion on the separation of powers with anyone. Unfortunately, Kenya's broader process of democratization has also had a darker side: many lives have been lost in political and ethnic violence. Still, the blood, sweat and tears of Kenyans was not enough to deliver a new constitution. Kenyan politics was stuck. It was easy for politicians such as Mwai Kibaki to promise reform in opposition, but become reluctant when in power. Turkeys do not vote for Christmas.
Genuine reform threatened to upset vested interests. It is down to chance and circumstances that these obstacles were overcome. Firstly, Kibaki was after the disputed election a second term President, not eligible to run again. Therefore, he was less interested in opposing reforms that would mainly constrain his successor, not him. Indeed the enormous value of term limits should be clear; throughout Africa they have helped midwife political change by changing the incentives of the incumbent. Moreover that disputed election threatened to tarnish his legacy, helped concentrate minds at home and renew pressure abroad. It is a cliché, but it took crisis to bring real reform. In the aftermath of the crisis Kenyan MPs passed legislation to re-start the review process. Martha Karua drew up a watertight bill that basically put the process on auto-pilot. If politicians failed to play their role, there were mechanisms for the process to continue. It is puzzling that Kenyan MPs passed such bold legislation that bound them to completing the reform process. The answer is simply they were sleeping, not paying attention to the laws they were enacting. Indeed several MPs, including, William Ruto, leader of the 'No' Camp, later expressed surprise at provisions that only required a simple majority to pass the document on to the referendum stage, but a two-thirds majority to amend it. We owe our new constitution to such accidents. In comparison it will be much easier to pass the 49-odd subsidiary laws, the threat of dissolution and attendant loss of perks will keep our MPs working. This new constitution, despite being the product of a messy political compromise, is a good document. At one stage the reform process became bogged down in a battle between proponents of presidential and parliamentary systems as well as advocates of various hybrids.
Credit is due to the young, first-time MP, Abdikadir Hussein Mohammed, as chairman of the parliamentary select committee for helping craft a genuinely presidential system with stringent checks and balances that nobody loved but nearly everyone could live with.
There are a number of other desirable reforms included:
• The President must win over half the votes in an election, with provision for a run-off. This will prevent a candidate lacking broad national support being elected because of ethnic splits.
• Key Presidential appointments require parliamentary approval.
• The old KANU tool of executive political control, the Provincial Administration is abolished, replaced by a system of devolution.
• The sharing of power and revenue through devolution should help reverse the marginalization of parts of Kenya. More importantly it means groups that do not capture the presidency are not locked out of power all together.
• Constituencies have to of a nearly equal size with limits on how much their population vary, ending a long history of gerrymandering.
These reforms are not a boilerplate wish-list; they are not prescriptions of motherhood and apple pie. They change the incentives political players face and have the potential to transform politics. It is customary for pieces on Kenya to note our troubles with our northern neighbour Somalia. I would like to end on a different note and point to an observation made by Charles Onyango-Obbo, that if Kenya has a 'Somali headache' it also has a 'Somali dividend.' With mistrust between the larger ethnic groups, Kenyan Somalis are called upon to act as neutral brokers. They have certainly risen to the task. Abdikadir Hussein Mohammed, mentioned above, is a Kenyan Somali from an unprivileged background who through hard work made it to Harvard. The chairman of Interim Independent Electoral Commission, Issack Hassan who made sure the referendum was the most credible electoral exercise in Kenya's history is another Kenyan Somali. They are amongst the finest public officials we have. *This opinion by Siddhartha Haria was first published in the OpenDemocracy on August 23, 2010
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Women want Fair Share of Constitution Spoils
Rosemary Okello
As the country gears up to the promulgation of the new Constitution on August 27, the women of Kenya under the umbrella of G-10 are already worried that their hopes might be shattered if the spirit of the Constitution is not captured from the onset in the Constitutional Oversight Implementation Committee.
During a planning meeting to set up their priority areas within the implementation process, the women said they do recognise and affirm the importance of the implementation process and that is why they are calling upon the political leadership to honour the letter and spirit of the new Constitution by ensuring that women's issues are taken seriously and are not glossed over.
Grace Maingi Kamau, the Executive Director of FIDA-Kenya is on record saying that women have been part of the constitutional process for a long time and expect that the implementation should go hand-in-hand with the national values and principles of governance which are clearly stipulated and include human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non-discrimination and protection of the marginalised.
Even though they are cognisant of the fact that it will no longer be business as usual women are aware that several critical offices shall be central to the full implementation of the New Constitution.
These include the office of the Chief Justice, Attorney General, The Director of Public Prosecutions, The Judicial Service Commission and the envisaged reforms in the Judiciary, therefore they do not only expect the adoption of a transparent and accountable criteria in the appointment of officers to these offices but also meaningful and effective participation by the women.
To make sure that the woman become part of the implementation process, they have set up a task force to work with the two principals namely; President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the Parliamentary select committee, the implementation commission as and when it is set up, MPs and other stakeholders in the implementation process.
Deborah Okumu the Executive Director of the Caucus for Women Leadership points out that they are developing a database of names of women who can either be part of the implementation process or be appointed in the various posts in line with the Constitution.
According to her since no appointment will be lawful unless it respects the principle where no one gender will constitute more than two-thirds, this will make it easy for the relevant institutions to tap into the data which she said is very representative in terms of various professional, it also represents all the region in Kenya and it has inter-generational dimension.
With the new Constitution in cases in terms of the leadership positions, when the chair is a woman, the vice chair shall be a man and vice versa. The women would also like to see the enhancement of the human rights and political advancement of women through the new constitution.
The women are also planning to launch an auditing tool, which they will use to audit the implementation process from a gender perspective. Reports from the same will be issued every fortnight or as will become necessary.
This means that Kenyans must remain engaged, extremely vigilant of the implementation process and together as men and women to work together to enhance principles of democracy where each citizen is equally valued and has rights to participate in governance, regardless of ethnicity, gender, and disability status, among others.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
As the country gears up to the promulgation of the new Constitution on August 27, the women of Kenya under the umbrella of G-10 are already worried that their hopes might be shattered if the spirit of the Constitution is not captured from the onset in the Constitutional Oversight Implementation Committee.
During a planning meeting to set up their priority areas within the implementation process, the women said they do recognise and affirm the importance of the implementation process and that is why they are calling upon the political leadership to honour the letter and spirit of the new Constitution by ensuring that women's issues are taken seriously and are not glossed over.
Grace Maingi Kamau, the Executive Director of FIDA-Kenya is on record saying that women have been part of the constitutional process for a long time and expect that the implementation should go hand-in-hand with the national values and principles of governance which are clearly stipulated and include human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non-discrimination and protection of the marginalised.
Even though they are cognisant of the fact that it will no longer be business as usual women are aware that several critical offices shall be central to the full implementation of the New Constitution.
These include the office of the Chief Justice, Attorney General, The Director of Public Prosecutions, The Judicial Service Commission and the envisaged reforms in the Judiciary, therefore they do not only expect the adoption of a transparent and accountable criteria in the appointment of officers to these offices but also meaningful and effective participation by the women.
To make sure that the woman become part of the implementation process, they have set up a task force to work with the two principals namely; President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the Parliamentary select committee, the implementation commission as and when it is set up, MPs and other stakeholders in the implementation process.
Deborah Okumu the Executive Director of the Caucus for Women Leadership points out that they are developing a database of names of women who can either be part of the implementation process or be appointed in the various posts in line with the Constitution.
According to her since no appointment will be lawful unless it respects the principle where no one gender will constitute more than two-thirds, this will make it easy for the relevant institutions to tap into the data which she said is very representative in terms of various professional, it also represents all the region in Kenya and it has inter-generational dimension.
With the new Constitution in cases in terms of the leadership positions, when the chair is a woman, the vice chair shall be a man and vice versa. The women would also like to see the enhancement of the human rights and political advancement of women through the new constitution.
The women are also planning to launch an auditing tool, which they will use to audit the implementation process from a gender perspective. Reports from the same will be issued every fortnight or as will become necessary.
This means that Kenyans must remain engaged, extremely vigilant of the implementation process and together as men and women to work together to enhance principles of democracy where each citizen is equally valued and has rights to participate in governance, regardless of ethnicity, gender, and disability status, among others.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Will the world ever Know who Killed Fr. Kaiser?
Ten Years on, Ten More Questions
At the crack of dawn on an August morning 10 years ago, two butchers on their way to the market bumped upon a white pickup that seemed to have crashed by the roadside at a lonely junction, near Naivasha, a 100 km west of Nairobi. In the dim morning light, the pair made out the body of a large white male, lying on his back, a shotgun at his feet and blood oozing from where the back of his head should have been. Also in conspicuous view, was a big pink rosary.
Two hours, later when the police arrived and a crowd had gathered at the scene, body was identified as that of Fr John Anthony Kaiser, a Mill Hill Missionary priest from Ngong Diocese, who was well known for his human rights crusade. He was an American priest who first came to Africa 36 before then as a missionary, freshly ordained. In the few years before his death, Kaiser had become the epitome of human rights in Kenya or the voice of the people, unafraid to speak out against the corruption that permeated the Kenyan government.
Silencing Critics
In an email to colleagues in the US, published in an article appearing in the Riverfront Times of St. Louis, Cornelius Schilders, former bishop of Ngong, Kaiser’s old diocese said that “In public forums and in the Kenyan and international press, Kaiser accused then Kenya’s president, Daniel arap Moi, of staging bloody tribal wars in order to drive people from their land and seize it for his cronies.” It was because of the priest that stories about the harsh conditions at Maela camp, a government dumping ground for internal refugees began to appear. Facing international embarrassment and the loss of foreign aid, Moi decided to close down the camp and disperse the refugees. Government soldiers arrived in Maela on Christmas Eve of 1993 but Kaiser refused to let them in, blocking the church entrance with his bulky frame. He was spirited away, beaten and left for dead in the forest but, somehow, survived.
For the remaining days of his life, Kaiser was harassed by agents of the Kenyan government. They tailed his car at night and threw rocks through the windows of his house. And yet, he was not cowed by all these. Many people who spoke out against the oppression and corruption disappeared, says Bishop Cornelius in his E-mail. Throughout the 1990s, Kaiser had been followed, harassed and even beaten and placed under house arrest by Kenyan police. He fought on. In 1998, when Moi set up the Akiwumi Commission to look into the causes of ethnic violence, Kaiser was determined to testify, and when he finally did in February 1999, his testimony caused a sensation. He claimed the government had instigated the tribal clashes, and named names including President Moi himself. The Akiwumi Commission struck Kaiser’s testimony from the record. Having taken on many issues and running into trouble quite often, a sympathetic government security agent warned him of plans to assassinate him.
So, what Really Happened that Fateful Morning?
Talking to media on the day the body was discovered, Naivasha police told journalists that he had been shot in a “gangland-style execution.” Andrew Kimetto, then Nakuru police commander, described Kaiser’s final hours to media thus: “Kaiser’s truck was hijacked and driven off the main road into the forest. He was pulled from the truck and forced to kneel and say his final prayers. An assassin then shot him in the back of the head. The killers drove the truck back to the Naivasha-Nakuru Highway, dumped his body in a ditch and disappeared.” He added that the crime scene had been staged to look like a suicide. Kimetto ordered an investigation into the murder.
The Big Concoction
But just as sudden as his death, a suicide theory emerged from nowhere and seemed to carry the day. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-33#cite_note-33.” Kenya’s chief government pathologist and a pathologist from an independent human rights organization present at the autopsy concluded that the missionary was killed from a muzzle distance of about 3 feet (0.91 m), “From which suicide would be impossible. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-34#cite_note-34 However, an FBI expert from Texas, who did not examine Fr. Kaiser but only saw photographs, concluded that Kaiser had committed suicide. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-35#cite_note-35.” The Moi government readily concurred. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-36#cite_note-36.” The FBI report said colleagues described him as “out of sorts,” “tense,” “scared,” “exceptionally nervous” and “haunted.” He was seen crying at Mass and spent nights awake with a shotgun by his side, and when he did sleep, “Father Kaiser could be heard calling out the names of prominent Kenyan politicians.” The report continued.
Yet that was all they relied on. Nothing about the threats he had received, the kidnappings, the stones to his house. Just the nervousness and fear. They did not even bother to read an open letter to his family and friends shortly before he died: “I want all to know that if I disappear from the scene, because the bush is vast and hyenas many that I am not planning any neither accident, nor, God forbid, any self-destruction.” Suicide is a mortal sin, a violation of everything Kaiser stood for as a Catholic priest.
Kaiser was Murdered, but Who Did it?
The Catholic Church condemned the report and began pressuring the government of Kenya and the United States to launch an inquest into Kaiser’s death. The Kenyan courts finally began the inquest in 2003, after Moi had been swept from power. It dragged on for more than four years, with frequent recesses and a change in the magistrate halfway through. 111 witnesses gave testimony and the magistrate called the FBI agents to the stand three times, but they never appeared or gave any explanation for their absence. The inquest ended on June 12, 2007, after hearing from the witnesses. The presiding magistrate, Maureen Odero, ruled on August 1, 2007 that Kaiser was murdered, added that the “Suicide Theory” was based on a pre-conceived notion, but stated that “she could not — on the basis of evidence tabled before her in the inquest — point out with certainty who the priest’s killers were.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-44#cite_note-44
Of What Use are the Ceremonies?
In Kenya today, the American missionary remains a national hero. Children are named after him. Every August 24, a big celebration for his life and times here is held. But that is almost all. Beatrice Odera of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission at the Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC) says the objective of the celebrations is to advocate for the progress of the case in the court. One wonders what case they are talking about with no single suspect in custody ten years later, no investigations ongoing and nothing much from the church hierarchy.
According to Fr. Vincent Wambugu, the KEC secretary general, after incessant prayers and reflection, the bishops decided that the late priest’s anniversaries should be held locally in churches rather than congregating for a national celebration. “The bishop’s wish is for the court to bring the investigations to a reasonable conclusion. Our strong message for this occasion is that the government should speed up investigations so that this matter can be put behind us,” the priest told The Seed in an interview.
A Litany of Murders
Ten years later, with a lot of encouraging talk and little action from the church hierarchy,one can only count, with amazement, not the number of suspects in custody but the number of missionaries sent to their early graves. Fr. Jeremiah Roche, an Irish Kiltegan Missionary was stripped naked and brutally murdered on the night of December 10, 2009 in his house at Keongo parish, in Kericho Diocese. A seemingly straight forward murder case, there is nothing to show for it except nine suspects in custody, unnecessary postponements and now, the transfer of the magistrate handling the case.
An Italian Consolata Missionary, Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina was also murdered in January 2009 by thugs, who walked into his office in broad day light at the Consolata Institute of Philosophy, Lang’ata, Nairobi. The thugs tied up the 82-year-old priest, stuffed his mouth with papers and fled with an unknown amount of money. According to Brother Kenneth Wekesa, IMC, who is following up the case, “the culprits have defended themselves and now we are awaiting the state council and the doctor’s findings.”
Then there is Bishop Luigi Locati, murdered on July 24, 2005 in Isiolo Diocese. A murder suspected to have been planned by one of his priests. Thirty five witnesses have given evidence and eight more are lined up. Another brutal murder happened in Ngong Diocese in 2004 where Irish-born priest of St Barnabas Parish Matasia, Fr. John Hannon of Society of African missionaries was killed by unknown people.
Mother, Protect your Children
The list of death is agonizingly long. And so is the deafening silence. But what is more agonizing is that mother church is doing nothing about it. Kill a policeman, there is fire and brimstone to pay. Kill a Muslim cleric and you will be smoked out of your hideout. Kill a Catholic missionary or even a bishop and issuing long pastoral letters seems to be the operating theme.
There is only one way to ensure quick justice is delivered for the innocent blood of missionaries shed all over the country. Only one way to ensure butchers going about their business at wee hours of the morning see only the blood of animals at slaughterhouses and not of Catholic missionaries. Take a stand and let the world know you will not sit by and watch your foot soldiers killed for leisure.
*The writer is the Communications coordinator of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru and Assistant Editor CISA. This Article first appeared in The Seed Magazine of August 2010.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
At the crack of dawn on an August morning 10 years ago, two butchers on their way to the market bumped upon a white pickup that seemed to have crashed by the roadside at a lonely junction, near Naivasha, a 100 km west of Nairobi. In the dim morning light, the pair made out the body of a large white male, lying on his back, a shotgun at his feet and blood oozing from where the back of his head should have been. Also in conspicuous view, was a big pink rosary.
Two hours, later when the police arrived and a crowd had gathered at the scene, body was identified as that of Fr John Anthony Kaiser, a Mill Hill Missionary priest from Ngong Diocese, who was well known for his human rights crusade. He was an American priest who first came to Africa 36 before then as a missionary, freshly ordained. In the few years before his death, Kaiser had become the epitome of human rights in Kenya or the voice of the people, unafraid to speak out against the corruption that permeated the Kenyan government.
Silencing Critics
In an email to colleagues in the US, published in an article appearing in the Riverfront Times of St. Louis, Cornelius Schilders, former bishop of Ngong, Kaiser’s old diocese said that “In public forums and in the Kenyan and international press, Kaiser accused then Kenya’s president, Daniel arap Moi, of staging bloody tribal wars in order to drive people from their land and seize it for his cronies.” It was because of the priest that stories about the harsh conditions at Maela camp, a government dumping ground for internal refugees began to appear. Facing international embarrassment and the loss of foreign aid, Moi decided to close down the camp and disperse the refugees. Government soldiers arrived in Maela on Christmas Eve of 1993 but Kaiser refused to let them in, blocking the church entrance with his bulky frame. He was spirited away, beaten and left for dead in the forest but, somehow, survived.
For the remaining days of his life, Kaiser was harassed by agents of the Kenyan government. They tailed his car at night and threw rocks through the windows of his house. And yet, he was not cowed by all these. Many people who spoke out against the oppression and corruption disappeared, says Bishop Cornelius in his E-mail. Throughout the 1990s, Kaiser had been followed, harassed and even beaten and placed under house arrest by Kenyan police. He fought on. In 1998, when Moi set up the Akiwumi Commission to look into the causes of ethnic violence, Kaiser was determined to testify, and when he finally did in February 1999, his testimony caused a sensation. He claimed the government had instigated the tribal clashes, and named names including President Moi himself. The Akiwumi Commission struck Kaiser’s testimony from the record. Having taken on many issues and running into trouble quite often, a sympathetic government security agent warned him of plans to assassinate him.
So, what Really Happened that Fateful Morning?
Talking to media on the day the body was discovered, Naivasha police told journalists that he had been shot in a “gangland-style execution.” Andrew Kimetto, then Nakuru police commander, described Kaiser’s final hours to media thus: “Kaiser’s truck was hijacked and driven off the main road into the forest. He was pulled from the truck and forced to kneel and say his final prayers. An assassin then shot him in the back of the head. The killers drove the truck back to the Naivasha-Nakuru Highway, dumped his body in a ditch and disappeared.” He added that the crime scene had been staged to look like a suicide. Kimetto ordered an investigation into the murder.
The Big Concoction
But just as sudden as his death, a suicide theory emerged from nowhere and seemed to carry the day. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-33#cite_note-33.” Kenya’s chief government pathologist and a pathologist from an independent human rights organization present at the autopsy concluded that the missionary was killed from a muzzle distance of about 3 feet (0.91 m), “From which suicide would be impossible. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-34#cite_note-34 However, an FBI expert from Texas, who did not examine Fr. Kaiser but only saw photographs, concluded that Kaiser had committed suicide. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-35#cite_note-35.” The Moi government readily concurred. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-36#cite_note-36.” The FBI report said colleagues described him as “out of sorts,” “tense,” “scared,” “exceptionally nervous” and “haunted.” He was seen crying at Mass and spent nights awake with a shotgun by his side, and when he did sleep, “Father Kaiser could be heard calling out the names of prominent Kenyan politicians.” The report continued.
Yet that was all they relied on. Nothing about the threats he had received, the kidnappings, the stones to his house. Just the nervousness and fear. They did not even bother to read an open letter to his family and friends shortly before he died: “I want all to know that if I disappear from the scene, because the bush is vast and hyenas many that I am not planning any neither accident, nor, God forbid, any self-destruction.” Suicide is a mortal sin, a violation of everything Kaiser stood for as a Catholic priest.
Kaiser was Murdered, but Who Did it?
The Catholic Church condemned the report and began pressuring the government of Kenya and the United States to launch an inquest into Kaiser’s death. The Kenyan courts finally began the inquest in 2003, after Moi had been swept from power. It dragged on for more than four years, with frequent recesses and a change in the magistrate halfway through. 111 witnesses gave testimony and the magistrate called the FBI agents to the stand three times, but they never appeared or gave any explanation for their absence. The inquest ended on June 12, 2007, after hearing from the witnesses. The presiding magistrate, Maureen Odero, ruled on August 1, 2007 that Kaiser was murdered, added that the “Suicide Theory” was based on a pre-conceived notion, but stated that “she could not — on the basis of evidence tabled before her in the inquest — point out with certainty who the priest’s killers were.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-44#cite_note-44
Of What Use are the Ceremonies?
In Kenya today, the American missionary remains a national hero. Children are named after him. Every August 24, a big celebration for his life and times here is held. But that is almost all. Beatrice Odera of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission at the Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC) says the objective of the celebrations is to advocate for the progress of the case in the court. One wonders what case they are talking about with no single suspect in custody ten years later, no investigations ongoing and nothing much from the church hierarchy.
According to Fr. Vincent Wambugu, the KEC secretary general, after incessant prayers and reflection, the bishops decided that the late priest’s anniversaries should be held locally in churches rather than congregating for a national celebration. “The bishop’s wish is for the court to bring the investigations to a reasonable conclusion. Our strong message for this occasion is that the government should speed up investigations so that this matter can be put behind us,” the priest told The Seed in an interview.
A Litany of Murders
Ten years later, with a lot of encouraging talk and little action from the church hierarchy,one can only count, with amazement, not the number of suspects in custody but the number of missionaries sent to their early graves. Fr. Jeremiah Roche, an Irish Kiltegan Missionary was stripped naked and brutally murdered on the night of December 10, 2009 in his house at Keongo parish, in Kericho Diocese. A seemingly straight forward murder case, there is nothing to show for it except nine suspects in custody, unnecessary postponements and now, the transfer of the magistrate handling the case.
An Italian Consolata Missionary, Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina was also murdered in January 2009 by thugs, who walked into his office in broad day light at the Consolata Institute of Philosophy, Lang’ata, Nairobi. The thugs tied up the 82-year-old priest, stuffed his mouth with papers and fled with an unknown amount of money. According to Brother Kenneth Wekesa, IMC, who is following up the case, “the culprits have defended themselves and now we are awaiting the state council and the doctor’s findings.”
Then there is Bishop Luigi Locati, murdered on July 24, 2005 in Isiolo Diocese. A murder suspected to have been planned by one of his priests. Thirty five witnesses have given evidence and eight more are lined up. Another brutal murder happened in Ngong Diocese in 2004 where Irish-born priest of St Barnabas Parish Matasia, Fr. John Hannon of Society of African missionaries was killed by unknown people.
Mother, Protect your Children
The list of death is agonizingly long. And so is the deafening silence. But what is more agonizing is that mother church is doing nothing about it. Kill a policeman, there is fire and brimstone to pay. Kill a Muslim cleric and you will be smoked out of your hideout. Kill a Catholic missionary or even a bishop and issuing long pastoral letters seems to be the operating theme.
There is only one way to ensure quick justice is delivered for the innocent blood of missionaries shed all over the country. Only one way to ensure butchers going about their business at wee hours of the morning see only the blood of animals at slaughterhouses and not of Catholic missionaries. Take a stand and let the world know you will not sit by and watch your foot soldiers killed for leisure.
*The writer is the Communications coordinator of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru and Assistant Editor CISA. This Article first appeared in The Seed Magazine of August 2010.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
“Yes Win” that Gave Kenya a New Constitution
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo
On 4th August, 2010 millions of Kenyans trooped to the polling stations to cast their vote for or against the Proposed Constitution. The next day 5th August the country woke up to a new Constitution! The old 1963 Lancaster Constitution to which Wananchi did not contribute was on the shelf of history! An overwhelming majority of Kenyans about 70% voted “Yes”
This obviously means that the majority of Christians voted “Yes.” So, where does this leave the Church leaders who, together with William Ruto led the “NO” Camp, although for totally different motives?
Were all our Church and moral leaders: Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and the rest of the Christian denominations in the country wrong in opposing Article 26 of the now new Constitution of Kenya due to its problematic clauses on abortion? Of course not. They were, if I may be allowed to say, 1000% right. Could we then say that the Christians who voted «Yes» were supporting abortion?
Absolutely not! For in African cultures a child is so important that the more children one has the better!
Another reason Church leaders advanced in their campaign against the Proposed Constitution was the inclusion of the Islamic Kadhi’s courts! But why were Christians not persuaded by this to vote out the Proposed Constitution? These courts had been in the old Constitution since independence and had never troubled anybody! They basically deal with Islamic family affairs. How then could Christians vote out a good Proposed Constitution because of this! And couldn’t we tolerate this and move forward as a country? Where is our religious tolerance?
One of the lessons we have to learn is that a Constitution of a country given then many different parties and forces involved can never be a matter of take it all! It is always an affair of give and take! Compromises are inevitable.
Many Christians voted “Yes”not because they had no respect for their religious leaders and not because they supported abortion; but because they could not afford losing such a golden chance to get a new Constitution which had evaded them for more than two decades because of an abortion close which could be amended later! In fact that Article 26(4) can still be amended, for the Constitution itself allows amendments! And the Proposed Constitution was clearly far better than the Lancaster Constitution. Had the Proposed Constitution been worse than or the same as the Lancaster one, wananchi could have voted it out.
But was it politically possible to amend the Proposed Constitution before the referendum vote? From the point of view of an ordinary man on the street maybe it was, but politically speaking, given the history of that document, it was absolutely impossible!
The Committee of Experts, on November 17, 2009, released the Proposed Constitution to the public and gave 30 days to evaluate the document. Whoever had proposals or amendments, was within those days, expected to forward them to their Member of Parliament. This was done and after several revisions, on February23, 2010 the Committee of Experts published the Proposed Constitution and presented it to Parliament. The amendments presented were many and some could not be incorporated in the Document as MPs failed to reach agreement on them! A total of 150 amendments were left out!
But fortunately on 1st April, 2010 parliament UNANIMOUSLY approved the Proposed Constitution! This was already a great achievement in the history of Kenya. In fact, at this very moment even before the referendum, the people of Kenya said “YES” to the Proposed Constitution. For the MPs who unanimously said “YES” to the Document represent all the Kenyan citizens! So already here it was clear that “YES” was to win.
This was a big political win and gain for both Kibaki and Raila. So, when Church Leaders suggested that the Proposed Constitution be amended before the referendum, only apolitically minded people could think that the two principals could contemplate such a move. Obviously, some MPs would have revived the issue of the 150 amendments which were not incorporated!
That Church Leaders as I have explained above, were absolutely right in opposing article 26, and that the Christians who voted yes did so not because they supported abortion, the question which comes to our minds then is: What exactly went wrong that the majority of the Christians did not follow the advice of their Leaders to vote “NO?”
After all that I have said, the answer is very simple. Church Leaders got “the socio-political analysis” of the situation wrong! And this led them to a wrong strategy of “direct confrontation” with the government which could not produce their desired goal of amending Article 26(4) and other contentious issues before the referendum!
Anglican Archbishop Dr. David Gitari had in my opinion a better socio-political analysis of the situation. He perceived that voting Yes or No both choices were problematic, but it was a lesser evil to vote Yes! And so he proposed the Christian moral principle of: When confronted with two evils, choose the lesser one, as the right way to go in that situation. I too believed that it was the right thing to do and I explained why in my article Time has run out, (cf.CISA, Issue No.046 Tuesday, May 18, 2010).
So I propose that Church Leaders in Kenya get better and well informed socio-political analyst to advise them in socio-political matters in the future. Otherwise, they will lose credibility and confidence of the people which is very dangerous for the Church. Their total silence during the 2007/8 ethnic violence also influenced the people in not taking seriously their advice to vote NO. That silence in such a critical situation wounded the Church very deeply and the wound has not yet healed!
This is the right time to wage a fierce battle to have Article 26(4) amended. And if they can tolerate the existence of the Kadhi’s courts in the New Constitution, then they will also have the support of the Muslims to have it changed, because they too do not support abortion. But should they continue to insist on the removal of the Kadhi’s courts from the Constitution, then, they will lose the support of the Islamic community!
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo is a Monk at the Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
On 4th August, 2010 millions of Kenyans trooped to the polling stations to cast their vote for or against the Proposed Constitution. The next day 5th August the country woke up to a new Constitution! The old 1963 Lancaster Constitution to which Wananchi did not contribute was on the shelf of history! An overwhelming majority of Kenyans about 70% voted “Yes”
This obviously means that the majority of Christians voted “Yes.” So, where does this leave the Church leaders who, together with William Ruto led the “NO” Camp, although for totally different motives?
Were all our Church and moral leaders: Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and the rest of the Christian denominations in the country wrong in opposing Article 26 of the now new Constitution of Kenya due to its problematic clauses on abortion? Of course not. They were, if I may be allowed to say, 1000% right. Could we then say that the Christians who voted «Yes» were supporting abortion?
Absolutely not! For in African cultures a child is so important that the more children one has the better!
Another reason Church leaders advanced in their campaign against the Proposed Constitution was the inclusion of the Islamic Kadhi’s courts! But why were Christians not persuaded by this to vote out the Proposed Constitution? These courts had been in the old Constitution since independence and had never troubled anybody! They basically deal with Islamic family affairs. How then could Christians vote out a good Proposed Constitution because of this! And couldn’t we tolerate this and move forward as a country? Where is our religious tolerance?
One of the lessons we have to learn is that a Constitution of a country given then many different parties and forces involved can never be a matter of take it all! It is always an affair of give and take! Compromises are inevitable.
Many Christians voted “Yes”not because they had no respect for their religious leaders and not because they supported abortion; but because they could not afford losing such a golden chance to get a new Constitution which had evaded them for more than two decades because of an abortion close which could be amended later! In fact that Article 26(4) can still be amended, for the Constitution itself allows amendments! And the Proposed Constitution was clearly far better than the Lancaster Constitution. Had the Proposed Constitution been worse than or the same as the Lancaster one, wananchi could have voted it out.
But was it politically possible to amend the Proposed Constitution before the referendum vote? From the point of view of an ordinary man on the street maybe it was, but politically speaking, given the history of that document, it was absolutely impossible!
The Committee of Experts, on November 17, 2009, released the Proposed Constitution to the public and gave 30 days to evaluate the document. Whoever had proposals or amendments, was within those days, expected to forward them to their Member of Parliament. This was done and after several revisions, on February23, 2010 the Committee of Experts published the Proposed Constitution and presented it to Parliament. The amendments presented were many and some could not be incorporated in the Document as MPs failed to reach agreement on them! A total of 150 amendments were left out!
But fortunately on 1st April, 2010 parliament UNANIMOUSLY approved the Proposed Constitution! This was already a great achievement in the history of Kenya. In fact, at this very moment even before the referendum, the people of Kenya said “YES” to the Proposed Constitution. For the MPs who unanimously said “YES” to the Document represent all the Kenyan citizens! So already here it was clear that “YES” was to win.
This was a big political win and gain for both Kibaki and Raila. So, when Church Leaders suggested that the Proposed Constitution be amended before the referendum, only apolitically minded people could think that the two principals could contemplate such a move. Obviously, some MPs would have revived the issue of the 150 amendments which were not incorporated!
That Church Leaders as I have explained above, were absolutely right in opposing article 26, and that the Christians who voted yes did so not because they supported abortion, the question which comes to our minds then is: What exactly went wrong that the majority of the Christians did not follow the advice of their Leaders to vote “NO?”
After all that I have said, the answer is very simple. Church Leaders got “the socio-political analysis” of the situation wrong! And this led them to a wrong strategy of “direct confrontation” with the government which could not produce their desired goal of amending Article 26(4) and other contentious issues before the referendum!
Anglican Archbishop Dr. David Gitari had in my opinion a better socio-political analysis of the situation. He perceived that voting Yes or No both choices were problematic, but it was a lesser evil to vote Yes! And so he proposed the Christian moral principle of: When confronted with two evils, choose the lesser one, as the right way to go in that situation. I too believed that it was the right thing to do and I explained why in my article Time has run out, (cf.CISA, Issue No.046 Tuesday, May 18, 2010).
So I propose that Church Leaders in Kenya get better and well informed socio-political analyst to advise them in socio-political matters in the future. Otherwise, they will lose credibility and confidence of the people which is very dangerous for the Church. Their total silence during the 2007/8 ethnic violence also influenced the people in not taking seriously their advice to vote NO. That silence in such a critical situation wounded the Church very deeply and the wound has not yet healed!
This is the right time to wage a fierce battle to have Article 26(4) amended. And if they can tolerate the existence of the Kadhi’s courts in the New Constitution, then they will also have the support of the Muslims to have it changed, because they too do not support abortion. But should they continue to insist on the removal of the Kadhi’s courts from the Constitution, then, they will lose the support of the Islamic community!
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo is a Monk at the Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this section do not represent the opinions of CISA.
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