The role of the church in fighting machiavelism in Kenyan politics

When the NCCK Secretary General described the President as being ‘moribund’ and the Prime Minister ‘ineffective’ in the Kenyan coalition government, it meant that in the eyes of the NCCK there is something wrong in the Kenyan politics. Indeed, a political setup that is ‘moribund and ineffective’ cannot deliver services to the ‘polis’ as it ought to. The bane of the Kenyan politics can be viewed from many perspectives. One such perspective is from a religio-ethical point of view. Specifically, Kenyan politics is imbued with Machiavellism. This is a political system where the survival of the political elite surpasses anything else. There is no morality or ethics in politics other than an ethic of perpetuating the interests of the ruler resulting to wanting political leadership. This is at the expense of the ruled, who continues to suffer injustice manifested in such social ills as lack of basic needs. In such a scenario, it seems that the saviour of the populace should come from outside the political class. These writers analyze the problem in Kenyan politics from a religio-ethical perspective with the contention that politics in Kenya is bedevilled with machiavellistic ills. The basic argument presented towards addressing the situation is that the Church in Kenya has a major role to play at least checking the excesses of Machiavellism.