The Anglican Church has slammed a proposed ‘swearing-in’ of opposition leader Raila Odinga by the so-called People’s Assembly scheduled for December 12, terming it a blatant abuse of the Constitution.
Anglican Archbishop Jackson ole Sapit yesterday said the church is not party to Raila’s fete, insisting that legitimacy of leadership is only attained through the ballot.
“As a church, we uphold all aspects of our Constitution and there is no way we can have two presidents sworn in. Power is only achieved through the ballot and there is no shortcut to that,” he said.
The cleric urged Kenyans to move on after the lengthy electioneering that was capped by swearing-in of Uhuru Kenyatta as President on November 28 following his win in last month’s repeat election. The opposition leader boycotted the poll held on October 26 and which was occasioned by Raila’s successful petition of the election held on August 8.
Sapit warned it would be unlawful for any Kenyan to claim leadership through unconstitutional means that could plunge the country into chaos, adding that the church was satisfied by the outcome of the repeat election that was subsequently unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court.
The Anglican Archbishop was speaking in Machakos town after opening a week-long men’s conference dubbed, Kenya Anglican Men association. He challenged the church to assume a noble duty of uniting the country that has been left highly polarised by prolonged campaigns.
“Those who are thirsty for leadership should wait for 2022, we should now commit ourselves to national healing and reconciliation and open a new chapter of dialogue to end political divisions that recur every five years,” he said.
While urging the opposition to accept the people’s verdict and move on for the interest of the nation, Sapit urged President Uhuru to open room for dialogue and heal the country once and for all.