“There is quite a lot of success”: Spiritan Bishop on Church-Led Peace Efforts in Kenya’s Conflict-Prone North Rift

“When there is peace, it brings development, stability, and progress. It ensures the proper use of scarce resources and strengthens collaboration among neighbouring communities for the good of all,” he said.

The Church has “an obligation to ensure fraternal living” among the warring communities, Bishop Mbinda said, and added, “We recognize that peace is essential for the well-being of the people, for our mission and work of evangelization, and even for the functioning of the government.”

Bishop John Mbinda of the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar in Kenya. Credit: ACI Africa

As part of the Church-led peace initiative, Bishop Mbinda recalled that on September 13, he hosted representatives of the people of God from the neighbouring Diocese of Kitale and Uganda’s Catholic Diocese of Moroto in his Episcopal See to pray for sustainable peace across the three ecclesiastical jurisdictions.

“This is the reason why we recently went to Lorengkipi, which lies at the boundary of the three Dioceses,” Bishop Mbinda said, adding that the event brought together people from the three Dioceses, including Justice and Peace coordinators, civic leaders, and politicians.

The September 13 gathering had “one common goal: to pray for peace,” he said about the spiritual initiative that he alongside Bishop Henry Juma Odonya of Kitale Diocese and a representative of Bishop Damiano Giulio Guzzetti of Moroto Diocese graced.

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Lodwar

“I believe that prayer is powerful, prayer is effective, and prayer can advance peace so that our neighbouring communities can do business together, intermarry, visit each other, and have free movement of people and goods across the borders,” Bishop Mbinda told ACI Africa on the sidelines of the September 19 Diaconate Ordination he presided over at St. John the Evangelist Holy Ghost Karen Parish of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN).

The Spiritan Bishop who has been at the helm of the Lodwar Diocese since his Episcopal Ordination in June 2022 said similar events have been held in Kainuk, an are bordering his Episcopal See and Kitale Diocese. . 

“We’ve had another one in Kapedo, which is well known for what happened there and the many loss of lives,” Bishop Mbinda said, referring to the trading center in his Episcopal See, which is often associated with conflict, particularly caused by cattle rustling and contested administrative boundaries.

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Lodwar

In 2014, suspected cattle rustlers ambushed Kapedo area and killed 20 Kenyan police, including reservists, in what government officials described as “one of the worst killings of law enforcers in a single incident” since the 2012 massacre of 42 police officers in Baragoi, an administrative center in Kenya’s Maralal Diocese.

In the September 19 interview with ACI Africa, Bishop Mbinda said the Catholic Church has “been trying to enter even into those conflict areas, fearlessly, just to promote peace and talk with the stakeholders, the warriors, the elders, and whoever we can talk to so that we can restore peace.”

“The government is also present with its machinery, and we appreciate the support from the government also in its own way. But for us we want to go the prayer way and the way of advocacy so that we can have peace among these warring communities,” he stated.

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Lodwar

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He went on to attribute the persistent conflicts in the North Rift region to historical marginalization, lack of education, and deeply rooted cultural practices.

The first-ever Kenyan Spiritan Bishop told ACI Africa, “One key factor we must accept is that those peripheral areas were long isolated and missed out on development seen elsewhere in Kenya. Education barely reached these places, so many people had few opportunities to earn a living.”

“As a result, raiding became a way to survive. For example, a man who lacked livestock to pay a dowry might steal from a neighbour to marry,” he said.

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Lodwar

Bishop Mbinda also noted that “cycles of revenge” and “traditional roles play a part, with warrior culture encouraging young men to move between communities provoke reactions, and loot livestock.”

To break the cycle, he underscored the need for formal education, advocacy, and a re-examination of harmful traditions. He appealed to elders and leaders in the conflict-prone North Rift region to take responsibility for guiding their communities toward peace.

For him, “If we collaborate to address these issues, we can identify the traditions that need to be adjusted or abandoned altogether, especially traditions that do not promote peace, so that we can build and sustain lasting harmony.”

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Lodwar

“Peace is paramount (and) good for each one of us,” Bishop Mbinda emphasized, and urged the people of God in Turkana, West Pokot, neighbouring Dioceses in Uganda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia to prioritize peace over conflict.

He said, "Each one of us should be an ambassador of peace, preaching peace from their own hearts, and then also being ambassadors of peace wherever they are, so that we can coexist and walk together as the Synod has invited us.”