“And
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no
more. And neither mourning, nor crying out, nor grief shall be
anymore. For the first things have passed away,” (Revelations 21:4).
The Catholic Church in Kenya joins other Kenyans and the
international community in mourning the 148 young students, staff
members and security personnel who lost their lives through massacre
at Garrisa University College. We condole with the parents and
relatives who lost their loved ones and assure them of our continued
prayers, especially during this painful period. For those still in
hospital, we pray for their quick recovery and peace of mind. For
those who survived with minor or no injuries, we wish them speedy
recovery from the psycho-social trauma and resumption of their
studies.
We have been touched by the generous support of Kenyans to the
victims of the terror attack and their families and extend our
gratitude and prayers to all who have touched the lives of these
people in one way or the other. We call on Kenyans and all people of
good will to continue lending their support even as the affected
students and their families go back to their homes. The Catholic
Church commits to activate the parish networks for our Christian
faithful to lend their support and prayers. At the same time, we call
on our priests, Church institutions and other Christian Churches to
journey with the victims and families of the terror attacks by
providing them with psycho-social support at the Parish community
levels.
We strongly condemn the heinous terror attack visited on innocent
promising young Kenyans and all those others going about their duties
at the University College.
We hope the Government will get to the bottom of this problem of
terrorism and radicalization with a view to proactively stemming such
incidences from recurring. In the meantime, we urge the Government to
beef up security especially in all educational institutions in the
Country and also address the now obvious breakdown in the security
intelligence system.
It is saddening that many Kenyan youths are being radicalized to
commit acts of terrorism against their fellow citizens. We all need
to join efforts and embrace a spirit of nationalism and patriotism
among all of us. It is unfortunate that some terrorists are
living among us yet we are not reporting them to the relevant
authorities. We need to respect the dignity of all human
persons.
While the Government is expected to provide security to all the
people in all parts of the Country, we observe that all of us have a
responsibility to support the Government by being vigilant and
providing information on any suspicious persons and items within our
immediate environment. In addition, parents, guardians and teachers
need to be more observant of the behavior of their children for
purposes of identifying any unusual, negative, suspicious or violent
tendencies.
Such behavior should be dealt with immediately or support sought from
relevant institutions or authorities. Time has come for Kenyans to be
more patriotic. Let us all be our brothers’ and sisters’
keepers.
The Ministry of Education, the Teachers Service Commission, Boards of
Management and University Councils should carefully and continuously
vet all employees to ensure that they are not used to radicalize
students and recruit them to join subversive groups.
Religious leaders should desist from teaching and preaching hatred
for people who do not subscribe to their religion and doctrines, and
recognize that everybody believes in a Supreme Being. Everybody has
an inalienable right to life and fundamental freedoms, especially to
religious beliefs, and as such they should not be perceived as
non-believers.
In the wake of regular attacks in the Country, we call on the
Government and security agencies to formulate an emergency response
strategy for the Country. Time has come for us to ask ourselves
certain questions: as institutions, how prepared are we to respond to
terror attacks? How have we prepared our students and by extension,
all Kenyans, to respond under attack? How can we minimize casualties
during emergencies? We call on the Government to move with speed and,
through the National Youth Service, provide mandatory emergency
response training at all our learning institutions and to all other
vulnerable groups.
Fellow Kenyans, despite all the difficulties we are facing as a
Country, we urge you to remain united. Let us continue to pray for
our Country so that security, peace and unity may prevail.
God bless you and God bless Kenya.
Signed:___________________________
His Eminence John Cardinal Njue,
Chairman,
Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops
Date: 8th April, 2015
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