A senior priest who was caught up in the thick of the deadly violence that followed the 2007 disputed presidential election has appealed to Catholic authorities in Kenya to act fast to prevent a worse round of chaos.Fr. Dominic Nkoyoyo, the former Superior of Our Lady of Victory Monastery in Kipkelion in the Rift Valley province, has called upon “the episcopal conference of Kenya to hold an urgent meeting to discuss ways of helping the country out of the crisis.”
He made his request in a letter to the chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference, John Cardinal Njue, and the Apostolic Nuncio in Nairobi, Archbishop Alain Paul Lebeaupin.
The historic post-election violence led to the closure of Our Lady of Victory Monastery and the departure of the monks last year. Fr Nkoyoyo returned to Kenya this June.
He writes that “as violence seems to be preparing to return to Kenya, as church we should do everything possible to prevent this from happening.”
“If violence returns, this time round nobody will be able to stop it. It will engulf the whole country. And we might find ourselves in a situation similar to that of Somalia or worse.”
The government last week decided to not set up a local tribunal to try the perpetrators of the post-election violence. It will also not send them to the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague. Fr. Nkoyoyo says both options are likely to plunge the country back into chaos.
“If, for example, [Agriculture Minister] William Ruto or [Deputy Prime Minister] Uhuru Kenyatta are tried by either The Hague or the Local Tribunal, Kalenjins and Kikuyus will react. Impunity should be stopped, but we should be careful that in doing so we don’t produce more impunity.”
Fr Nkoyoyo urges the Catholic bishops to contact global figures like former presidents Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique to plead with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Louis Moreno-Ocampo, to not proceed with indictments of the suspected post-election violence masterminds. Instead, another solution should be found “that combines justice, truth and love.”
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