Cleric urges calm as political leaders prepare for 2027 elections

A Catholic cleric has urged Kenyans to listen to politicians and assess their policies rather than resorting to violence as the country prepares for the 2027 elections.

Speaking on Saturday during the burial of Winnie Onyango, daughter of Freedom and Opportunity Party leader Onyango Oloo, in Kisumu East sub-county, the cleric called on residents to reject attempts to incite violence against political opponents.

He said voters should treat politicians seeking their support as candidates being assessed by the electorate.

“Their policies, their agenda, to make us make an informed choice what kind of leadership do we want for this community,” he said.

“I want to appeal to all of us, give them a listening ear. We do not need at all to fight among ourselves over somebody who has come to do an interview in front of us and we are the examiners to see whether they are worthy or not,” Kochiel added.

He condemned calls for people to attack, insult or stone others because of their political views.

“I want to condemn with the strongest words possible anybody inciting any of our sons or daughters to beat, to insult, to stone anybody at all,” he said.

The cleric said his experience working with people from different communities while serving in the military had reinforced his belief in peaceful coexistence.

The cleric, who works in Nairobi as a lecturer in canon law at St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary,said respect for human life and property should remain central as political competition intensifies.

He he also serves as vice rector. “Let us not be taken advantage of by being used as objects to fulfil unwanted goals,” he said.

He urged residents to remain restrained and avoid violence, saying political rivals would still have to live alongside one another after elections.

“Because at the end of the day, when these people got their job, we remain neighbours. And what kind of neighbours are we going to be?” he said.

He called on residents to put God first and uphold values that promote respect for life and property.

Kochiel also serves as judicial vicar in the ecclesiastical tribunal in Kisumu, which serves the dioceses of Kakamega, Homabay, Kisumu and Kisii.