CONFERENCE DES
EGLISES DE TOUTE L’AFRIQUE
ALL
A Call to all Kenyans from the All
African Conference of Churches
The All Africa Conference of Churches wishes
to express its deep and profound sorrow with the leaders and peoples of the
Conscious
of our status as guests of this nation and having been graciously allowed to
operate from this soil for more than forty years, we wish it to be known how
grateful we are for the hospitality that has always been extended to us by the
The
joys of this nation have become our joys and therefore its pains, our pains. It
is thus impossible for us not to agonize with all Kenyans in this hour of
crisis.
Expression of Solidarity
It
was on this basis that earlier in the year the AACC arranged for Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of the AACC, together
with the current President, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Nyansako-ni-Nku
from Cameroon and Dr. Brigalia Bam, former General
secretary of the South African Council of Churches and current Chairperson of
the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, to pay a solidarity visit
early in January 2008 to Kenya.
As
a universally respected peace broker, Archbishop Tutu called on the political
leaders of this country to stem the mayhem of killings and come to the table to
resolve this problem.
As
your fellow Africans and in the name of Christ we desire for you to know that
your and our pain is the pain of
Compelled to Speak Out
How
can we remain silent as the All Africa Conference of Churches when we
ourselves, working from Kenyan soil have ministered to so many in this
continent calling for justice and peace?
We cannot underplay the standing of the
Kenyan Peace-Brokering in
As
a South African, I can never forget that when my country was on the precipice,
it was a Kenyan in the person of Prof. Washington Okumu
who brokered peace among our chief protagonists at the time.
Gestures of Good Will
By
maintaining this position, is
If
anything, the theology of the body of Christ urges us to be available for one
another, not only for those who share at the common sacramental table, but for
the world for which Christ died. There
is no desire within the African community that such accompaniment should in any
way undermine the sense of sovereignty or the sense of pride of this great
nation.
The
standing of both Archbishop Tutu and President Kufuor
represents the ultimate gesture that this continent could show to express its
respect for
The Urgency for Resolution
Surely,
if nothing else, the desperate situation of Kenyans being seen the world over
as refugees in their neighbouring countries and
displaced in their own country, should move even the most hard hearted to
accept the urgency for the protagonists to sit down and seek to resolve this
problem.
If
Kenyans see this crisis as simply just one of their problems that they will in
time resolve, let it be said that the rest of the continent is desperate, for
if it happens thus to Kenya, how about the rest of us, what hope do we have?
The Legitimacy of Peaceful Protest
The
AACC wishes to remind all that the cornerstone of democracy we dreamt of, that
we continue to dream of and work for, is freedom of speech in
Legacies of Shame
Democracies
like the
Non-negotiable Democracy
Not
so with
So
are the courts, the Rule of Law, a cornerstone of Democracy. As has been acknowledged the world over,
courts are slow and frustrating in any country. But cases have to be filed to
demonstrate a commitment to legitimacy.
Through
systematic presentation of facts before courts a case is being made of the high
value that democracies put to the rule of law. African democracies cannot allow
themselves to be an exception to this rule however they feel about their
courts. Under the courts of some of the world’s worst regimes some
individual jurists have refused to be compromised.
A Defining Moment for the Continent
The
world is steadfastly keeping its focus on the situation in
So
they will keep their eyes on the process of the law in
Where
legal processes have been subverted the world will engage their learned friends
to explain themselves to the world. And indeed if we desire for
Our
freedom of speech and the rule of law must be made sacrosanct. They must be
trusted, and developed as the bulwark for the future of
An Urgent Call to Kenyan Leaders
In
the name of Christ, in the name of Africa and in the name of the vulnerable
especially those who we see scattered by this crisis everyday, we beseech you
brothers and sisters in
Rev. Dr. H. M. Dandala
(For the All
21st January 2008
