ACK CHURCH TO GEN Z

To reduce its huge debt burden, the Kenyan Government proposed a finance bill that sparked widespread demonstrations led by young Genz. The protesters feared that the bill would’ve added to the economic hardships of people already gripped by a cost of living crisis. The young generation is now driving the conversation and action for change across the country.

The leadership of the Anglican Church of Kenya has called for the suspension of the ongoing protests to give the government a chance to implement the demands raised by the Genz protesters. Led by Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit, the religious leaders gave the government a one-week ultimatum to make public its plan to address pressing issues such as corruption and overrated government expenditure, the ballooning wage bill and a bloated government. The clergy's perspective of the current state of the nation in their Friday briefing the raised a strong concern about the current state of affairs in the country. ‘We see the current crisis not as a revolution but an evolution, an opportunity to reform… the President should take this as a chance to fix all that is wrong with our governance, we call for Less Talk and more action.’ The church is also urging the Gen Zs to change their headline stance to sustain the protest until all their demands are met. ‘We appeal to protesters to suspend protest and give government time to attend to the raft of demands, some of which the president has begun to address including firing most of his cabinet secretaries, signing of the IEBC Amendment Bill 2024 into law and the resignation of the Inspector General of police among other’.

To suppress the tension within the country the religious leaders challenged the government to act swiftly in addressing the grievances raised by the protesters and the general public, cutting government expenditure and wage bill reducing the size of government and prioritizing IAL services to ensure capital flights and siphoning of public resources is stopped to freeze both local and foreign accounts of all corruption suspects reigning in corruption including at County levels. In view of these measures the government must come up in the next one week with an implementation matric of these demands and make it available for public scrutiny and monitoring. Archbishop Ole Sapit has also challenged the Church to lead National prayers for a return to normalcy. ‘as we pray, let us uphold the rule of law, work for peace and unity of all Kenyans, the Anglican Church of Kenya has set aside this coming Sunday the 21st of July 2024 for prayers, repentance and fasting even as they continue to demand for good governance and accountability among all leaders in the country.

Despite many reported and unreported cases of police brutality, arbitrary arrests, abductions and attacks on journalists, the youthful generation is serving notice to the establishment that it will no longer stay silent while decisions concerning their lives are being taken by others in authority and that they will make sure that their voices are heard. The religious leaders however, demanded the arrest and prosecution of top police officers who issued orders to kill.

At the same time, President William Ruto in his speech guarantees Kenyans of good service. ‘It is of utmost importance that the government takes measures to affirm our commitment to actualizing the people's aspirations, assure citizens that the state exists to serve them efficiently and with integrity and to signal to all, that our national values and principles of governance are the foundation of our national dispensation.’

Reviving programs that will help lower the cost of living and spur growth in the economy is just, but a few of the measures that the government must come up in the next one week with an implementation matric of these demands.