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Oppose Comprehensive Sexuality Education Budgets: Kenyan Bishop to International MPs

Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru, Chairman of the Commission for Education and Religious Education of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB). Credit: KCCB

International legislators need to oppose budgets toward “bad education programs” such as Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), which United Nations (UN) agencies and the European Union (EU) present to their respective parliaments, the Catholic Bishop at the helm of the Commission for education has said.

In a Monday, September 5 statement shared with ACI Africa, Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru who chairs the Commission for Education and Religious Education (CERE) of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) says, “Legislators from the developed countries particularly the countries that are in the forefront in funding bad Education programs through UN agencies and even the European Union should oppose budgets presented to their parliaments.”

“Such budgets that support the advancement of CSE, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), Brain-drain Education Scholarships and oppression of religious freedom and gender ideologies” should be opposed, Bishop Kariuki adds.

The remarks in the Kenyan Bishop’s statement are a reiteration of his address to members of the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN) at the Vatican on August 27, when he said that “many developed countries and international organizations have come together to use education to negatively influence education efforts, particularly in the developing countries.”

The Local Ordinary of Kenya’s Embu Diocese criticized developed countries that use education to undermine “the sovereignty of the developing countries’ religious and cultural values as well as national ethos."

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In his presentation titled, “The influence of Geopolitical Development on our Education Efforts”, Bishop Kariuki underlined the place of education in society, saying, “Education should teach the minds, touch hearts and transform lives.”

“There is a geopolitics of education, which aims at coercing the developing countries to adopt the CSE, with no respect of religious and cultural sensitivities,” the Kenyan Catholic Bishop told ICLN members on August 27.

He cited Google, Microsoft, and American Express among others as international conglomerates that “use their relationship with the leading western powers to exert their influence especially on the global south.”

The conglomerates tap into the wanting economic situation of developing countries to manipulate and lobby political leaders and legislators into endorsing bad education programs, the Bishop who has been at the helm of Kenya’s Embu Diocese since his Episcopal Ordination in July 2009 said.

He explained, “Multinational and International organizations lobby and manipulate political leaders and policy makers by using their economic and political influence in developing countries."

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If education is to be value-based and serve the principle of the common good, Bishop Kariuki said, “it cannot be delivered or separated from the protection and promotion of family values, particularly parental authority.”

He said that despite the efforts of developing countries to resist introduction of CSE in schools, the push is intensified through funding by the global elites, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“What is worse is that these organizations have perfected the art of using the legislatures of these countries to entrench CSE in their country's education system,” the Chairman of CERE of KCCB said.

To counter such influence, he urged international legislators to respect and defend the sovereignty of other countries, especially African nations whose resources are normally exploited.

The 59-year-old Bishop also called upon legislators in developing countries to “curb corruption, looting and wastage of national and public resources.” 

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He explained, “Corruption in developing countries is the root cause of high levels of poverty which opens the window for the global organizations and powerful countries to offer donations on their terms even on matters of education.”

Bishop Kariuki also challenged legislators in developing countries to “create policies that favour development of skills locally and industrialization in order to create jobs for the ever increasing young population.”

“Get involved in the selection of and influence who represents our countries at the international organizations where policies on education and other sectors are discussed and formulated,” the Kenyan Bishop said, addressing himself to members of parliament in developing countries.

In his August 25 address, Pope Francis urged the ICLN members to strive for “a more just, fraternal and peaceful world through legislative processes that promote the good of all and address situations of inequality in society.”

Focusing on justice, the Holy Father told the legislators, “Yours is the challenge of working to safeguard and enhance within the public sphere those right relationships that allow each person to be treated with the respect, and indeed the love, that is due to him or her."

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Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.