President William Ruto’s administration has come out guns blazing in swift rejoinders to a scathing attack by Catholic bishops as the government embarks on a new communication strategy.
In a well-calculated move, several government institutions released statements in a bid to deconstruct allegations by the church that called out Ruto for what they termed a deeply entrenched culture of lies, graft, rights violations and unfulfilled promises.
Sources within the government say there are concerns it is such sentiments that triggered Gen Z protests, which rocked the country in June and July. Ruto at the time said his communication team had failed to communicate effectively on the collapsed Finance Bill 2024.
On Thursday, at least four government institutions came out to poke holes on the allegations made by the bishops. They were Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa and her Education counterpart Julius Ogamba.
A day later, President Ruto also spoke on the assertions by the clergy, subtly accusing them of lying to members of the public. He asked all Kenyans to “work together towards a nation that we can all be proud of”.
“Even as we engage in public discourse on matters that are important to the people of Kenya, we must be careful to give factual information lest we become victims of the things we accuse others of doing,” Ruto said.
Catholic bishops accused the government of heavy-handedness in dealing with critics, lying to the citizenry, and perpetuating rights abuses including abductions and extrajudicial killings.
Under their umbrella of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, they also criticised the Social Health Authority claiming it had failed to address the problems of hospitals, including those owned by the church. In its response, the government lashed at the bishops terming their claims as “misleading, erroneous, and false”.
The Education and Health ministries explained in detail the progress made in addressing the concerns of Kenyans. It is understood the government’s action is based on the believe that such sentiments built the momentum for the Gen Z protests.
Pundits hold the state and its machinery cannot sit pretty to wait for any storm to gather and should not leave anything to chance.
Political commentator Javas Bigambo told the Star the state is sensitive to such sentiments as “the church remains integral to the country’s body politic, hence should not appear to fan fires.
“The religious leaders should be careful not to fan fires reminiscent of the run up to 2007 general election campaigns and how the religious leaders played more politics than respective teachings of their faith,” he said.
State operatives appear to be ready to counter any information they believe is false, as evidenced by the statements and posts on their social media platforms.
It is further understood the grand plot is to ensure the war of public perception is dealt with forthwith to tackle the “the evident discontent on the part of various Kenyans on government delivery”.
On Friday, Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura gave a blowby-blow response to the attacks targeted at the Kenya Kwanza administration.
“We wish to respectfully respond to each point raised (by the bishops), affirming our commitment to transparency, accountability, and the welfare of all citizens,” he said.
Mwaura tackled the accusations of corruption, human rights and freedom of speech, NHIF pending bills, term limits bill, taxation, education funding as well as youth unemployment. He also spoke to concerns about delayed reconstitution of the IEBC and economic outlook.
On corruption, Mwaura said the government has proposed laws to bolster the graft fight and that the anti-graft agencies were on high alert to intercept corruption schemes.
He said the Kenya Kwanza administration was keen on enhancing powers of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission as well as boosting its budget.
Mwaura said the government had no intention to facilitate the passage of legislation extending the terms of service for elected leaders.
This was in response to assertions by the clergy about the bill by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargey seeking to increase the president’s tenure to seven years from the current five.
The government also committed to settle among others the NHIF pending bills which were part of the lamentations of the clergymen. On taxation, Mwaura said the government was committed to taking steps to ease Kenyans’ tax burden.
“The government is working towards reforms to make the tax system equitable while meeting the national development agenda,” he said.
On jobs for youth, the state holds that it has given more than 105,000 Kenyans opportunities for jobs in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Bahrain.
Mwaura stated that more than 160,000 youths had also secured jobs in affordable housing projects and another 149,000 online job opportunities.
He also said the President had no intention to delay the reconstitution of the IEBC, arguing that the delays have been staged by a dispute among the representative political parties.
CS Barasa said the government had disbursed more than Sh5 billion, including Sh938 million to health facilities owned by, among others, the Catholic Church.
She said the government will disburse another Sh2.5 billion next week, further committing to clear all unpaid NHIF claims.
Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot also took a dive into the debate, saying the “clergy must avoid being purveyors of propaganda, fake news, and falsehoods.”
For the Kericho Senator, the clergymen were being roped into a political scheme, ostensibly by Kenya Kwanza rivals.
“I urge the church to avoid being roped into a scheme to destroy our institutions by scandalising them with misinformation, a practice rife on our social media spaces,” Cheruiyot said.
He said it was “unfortunate that religious leaders are resorting to sweeping generalities”, in reference to the clergy’s criticism of the term limits bill.
“If they have an issue with an individual leader, they should seek redress through the relevant constitutional agencies instead of condemning the entire legislature,” the senator said.
CS Ogamba also rebuffed claims by the bishops that the Competency-Based curriculum was crumbling, and about the challenges with the new universities funding model. He said the government had constructed 16,000 classrooms for Grade 9 and that Sh17.6 billion has been provided to complete the classrooms by December.
IGP Kanja said investigations were underway to establish if there was any complicity on the part of the police in the Gen Z protests deaths. He said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations was closing in on many cases of abductions and that “officers are making good progress.”
