BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
silence me...I will continue to proclaim the Good News of Jesus
Christ.’^55
The other problem facing the country was and is the grabbing of public
land set apart for public use by people of influence in the country includ-
ing the politicians. To address this situation which the church leaders in
Kenya have always spoken against Gitari preached a sermon on 19th
May, 1991 entitled, ‘Was there not a Nabboth to say No?’ The Kirinyaga
County Council had allocated water catchment forest hill to a private
developer to build a hotel. True to the text Gitari describes how King
Ahab was interested in the land of one of his subjects Naboth and
wanted to buy it. When he refused the queen Jezebel arranged how he
would be killed and then they get the land for their ‘vegetable garden.’
Then Prophet Elijah appears in the scene to condemn King Ahab and
his queen for their action.
With this story Gitari condemns both the Kirinyaga County Council and
the private developer. Kirinyaga County council failed to protect the
public land while the private developer is greedy to make profit while the
masses suffer environmental degradation. Gitari deplores the idol wor-
ship practiced by Ahab and applied to how people worship wealth, lies,
political power etc. He then points out how Ahab oppressed the poor
which is quite evident in Kenya. He revealed how the prosperity of king
and his high standard of living was achieved at the expense of the poor
people because the system then as now tended to place the poor at the
mercy of the rich and the influential. The poor were forced to borrow
money from the rich, the rich would in turn charge very high interest
rates and if they failed to pay in time, they faced either eviction from
their land or slavery. Gitari cited so many places that had been grabbed
by influential people in the district and yet no one was raising a finger.
He blamed the local authority for allocating those public areas to these
people and urged that public land be left untouched and only utilized for
public purposes. He gave six cardinal principles to be observed:
- Ensure that any land preserved for public utility is not interfered
with. - There should be no delay in compensating individuals whose land
has been taken for public utility with alternate land.
(^55) Gitari, In Season and Out of Season, p 95.