Background Information

Introduction

Good leadership and governance has been a major challenge to Kenyans at all levels. Indeed the human nature tends to direct people towards self and greed, a recipe for chaos and deprivation of human rights and dignity. The church in Kenya, though with many internal and external challenges has endeavored to encourage Kenyans to embrace a process of electing leaders who would embrace servant leadership. This is epitomized by values derived from God’s demonstration of who an ideal leader should be. Such an individual would have to grid against a typical human nature of a leader and instead take up Godly qualities that are quite the opposite engulfed by humility. Good leadership and governance have been proved to be the best methods of development for the people in all spheres including politically, socially and economically.

Since the early 90’s there has been a rallying call amongst the people of Kenya for a multiparty democracy in the hope that this change will create better systems of governance and accountability and hence better living standards of the people. The general elections of 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 witnessed violence with 2007 being the worst of them all. This is because not many were educated on the areas concerning governance and leadership; this led to many going back to their tribal affiliations hoping that this would create an avenue for better life which we all hoped for. However, Instead of achieving this, there was an acceleration of suspicions amongst the various ethnic groups and coupled with other social ills, many began seeing each other as a threat to their existence. In the 2007 post election violence over 500,000 people were displaced while over 1000 people lost their lives. Many women were raped, youth indoctrinated and caused mayhem by burning houses, stoning cars, etc. Even though this violence was evidenced in most parts of the country, the Rift Valley Province and especially Nakuru County bore the blunt of the whole mayhem, hence becoming the epicenter of post election violence. Surprisingly it is the same province that was badly affected during the other elections. It is upon this background that the NCEC/NCPA has resolved to actively participate in training the church members and the community in general on how to raise to the occasion and take up their responsibility in electing the most qualified individuals in various elective positions both at the national and county level.

Kenya is in anew dispensation after adopting a new constitution that was passed through a referendum in 2010. This new constitution spells out a devolved system of governance, hence the need for as many people of good understanding and standing to get involved in training the citizenry. Since the passing of the constitution, not many people have been educated on the new constitution and many are averse to the new changes. A quick random questioning on the general understanding of the constitution and the various related Bills and Acts regarding the elections have indicated that, the majority of church leaders are not well informed of what is contained in those documents yet they are the people most members of the community will rely on for correct information and guidance.

The next elections were to be held in 2012 but due to the changes in the constitution, the courts ruled that the elections to be done before 31^st March 2013. The question however that lingers in mind is, how will Kenyans vote in the upcoming elections? This question is critical as the majority of opinion leaders let alone the common person are not well versed with its contents. The situation is further complicated by the fact that while in the previous elections there were three elective posts, the president, member of parliament and the councilor, this time round there will be six positions; the president, senator, member of parliament, women representative, the governor and county representative.  If the past history is anything to go by, then we are foreseeing a repeat of post election violence and it might be worse than the previous ones. The various politicians are already on the road doing what they know best in indoctrinating the Kenyan people hence causing unnecessary hatred amongst the various tribes. The Christians and other religious groups will therefore have to determine to play a reconciliatory role based on facts and knowledge. This is the role the church and Christian professionals are committing themselves to play as reflected in this proposed intervention contained therein.

Nakuru County is one of the beneficiaries of the new formation of constituencies growing from six to eleven, this is the third position with Nairobi in position one while Kakamega and Kiambu are in position two; it is one of the largest counties in the country with a population of 1,603,325million people according to the 2009 census report. The eleven constituencies are: Nakuru Town East, Nakuru Town West, Molo, Njoro, Naivasha, Gilgil, Bahati, Subukia, Rongai, Kuresoi North and Kuresoi South.

The county is cosmopolitan and therefore a message of reconciliation, peace and cohesion needs to be preached amongst the various people with more vigor than ever before. Nakuru plays a pivotal role in all sectors with Nakuru town the headquarters of Nakuru County is growing at 13% and consequently rated by Habitat for Humanity as the fastest growing city in Africa. One of the contributing factors is the influx of people coming into the city due to 2007/2008 violence hence Civic education on areas of governance, leadership, peace building and development are critical in the entire country and especially Nakuru County. This county is endowed with a lot of wealth and is targeted to be one of the economic driving counties in the entire country hence the desire to see peace and development amongst the people of Nakuru. This conviction precipitated the coming together of credible organizations from the church and Christian professionals that have been in existence for a long period of time yet they have not taken a proactive role in leadership process engagement that would point the people to the right direction based on knowledge and proper information. However, appropriate measures have been put in place for such leaders to e take the lead in educating the people of Nakuru County in the electoral process and peace building. The aim is to set Nakuru as the right model of leadership and governance founded on electing people who will meet the standard set in this document. As such this  move will particularly have a direct bearing on the immediate eight neighboring counties, which is a rare position for a County to find itself in. ( Nakuru map # 1)

Groups Involved:

Nakuru Church Elders council (NCEC) has a well-developed network of members who will be very effective in carrying out civic education and recruited of various service providers.

National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) which brings together over 1200 churches has been actively engaged in issues of advocacy, leadership,   for a very long time. With their immense experience and accreditation and well developed structures will be able to reach their members effectively.

Nakuru Christian Professionals Association (NCPA) which is composed of various professionals in the town is a major resource in the areas that will be covered in the civic education in the county. The group is composed of teachers, doctors, Nurses, engineers, lawyers, Agriculturist, inter alia who have a passion in alleviating poverty from amongst the Kenyan people. They have been involved in a series of activities in the county in making the life of the Kenyan people better, such activities include: legal clinics, medical clinics and advocating for the wellbeing of the IDPs as they also provided other related services to them. The other main service has been setting up a vocational training institute that has helped quite a number of disadvantaged children in the county.

Fellowship of Christian Unions (FOCUS KENYA) is involved in the development of leaders through working with students from various universities and colleges in the country. Since its registration in 1973, many people that have gone through the ministry have been transformed and are doing great work in the society. With its well-developed structures and presence in the county it will be able to effectively reach its members and the others as part of the team that will be involved in educating communities on civic matters.

Nakuru Pastors Fellowships (NPF) are well spread out in the entire county; though not registered they are members of various denominations who meet as fellowships. They will be extremely helpful in providing the avenues to reach people from all corners of the county with ease.