The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has appealed to candidates vying for various political seats in the country to shun personal attacks or demeaning one another publicly and stick to the core agenda of selling their manifesto.
Embu County NCCK Chair Bishop Njeru Nyaga said it was unfortunate that campaigns especially the presidential had of late turned into name-calling contests terming it a big letdown to Kenyans.
Speaking on Tuesday in Embu Town during a breakfast prayer meeting with different election stakeholders in the government and private sector, Bishop Njeru said campaigns ought to be contests of ideas and selling ones’ agenda to the voters and not insults against opponents.
“We earnestly implore politicians not make one another a campaign agenda by avoiding all forms of personal attacks, insults or negative tags,” the cleric said, noting that such attacks can easily alienate Kenyans and fuel animosity.
His colleague, Bishop Stephen Njogu asked politicians to avoid using their words to stoke flames of mistrust and hatred to the voters against their opponents.
He said they should instead focus their energies in sharing their manifesto with voters and not profiling one another on various accounts including age, marital status, family and so on.
The leaders also made a rallying call to all registered voters to make a point of exercising their democratic right of voting come August 9 and also ensure they vote in visionary and development oriented leaders.
“We are telling our people that failing to vote is electing into office poor leaders,” Bishop Njeru said while urging the voters to also look out for individuals with no integrity issues.
They also appealed to IEBC to ensure delivery of peaceful and credible elections, saying Kenyans were expecting that the electoral body will usher in a smooth transition.
Embu West Sub-County Commissioner Mercy Gatobu who was representing the County Commissioner said security arrangements were at an advanced stage to ensure there were no acts of breach of peace during the election period.
She said adequate police officers will be deployed at all stages of the election right from the polling stations to the county tallying center.