RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY KENYA

The term church refers to a group of people governed by similar rules and beliefs, who congregate in recognition of a higher Being. In most cases the term church and religion are used synonymously. While religions is domesticated by morals that are illuminated by faith, most states are guided by politics whose orientation is generally practical empirical. In most cases the church. Politics on the other hand is given different definitions by different people. On one popular understanding, politics is concerned with the allocation of values in any social system. In Kenya as it is the case with most African countries, ethnicity has been and still remains the strongest force that binds a group together because other bases of alignment such as: religion, class, nationalism etc, are recent phenomena and in most cases alien. As it has been observed critically by the author, politics in Kenya are ethno-centric. The most vivid examples are given of the Rwandan genocide where in spite of the fact that an overwhelming percentage of the population is catholic, ethnic consciousness has resisted Christian assimilation.1 In Kenya, after the general elections of December 2007, Kenyans stooped down to ethnic/ tribal affiliations. Even the church leaders just as the Rwanda‟s case identified, campaigned and supported camps of their ethnic groups. People always imagine that ethnic-based thinking is the solution to every issue of concern. In most cases the term ethnicity is taken to be synonymous with tribalism. Considerably ambivalence governs any application of the concept of ethnicity, a term which in most cases is understood negatively. This concept may refer to; a group of consciousness of common cultural labels and the subsequent manipulation of this consciousness to construct a culturally – informed vantage point from which to report on and respond to contemporary situations of impoverished and powerlessness.2 As a term, it can also be understood as a philosophy of its kind, such that if one does not understand the principles behind it, one will not understand the behaviour, politics and even the level of religiosity of Kenyans. This paper therefore intends to evaluate the relationship between church and politics in Kenya. This paper falls under cross cutting themes like religion, ethnicity and politics. But in this case it falls under governance, institutions and state building, especially in Africa. The questions that this paper tries to address include: How do the church and state in Kenya relate? Why are the church leaders in Kenya ethnic centered? Why are the politicians and other government leaders in Kenya ethnic centered? What is the philosophy behind Kenya‟s church and government leaders? The authors will employ philosophical methodology. This method involves analyzing issues and rationalizing. The data that will be used includes mainly secondary data. This includes information that is obtained from libraries like books with relevant information, periodicals like journals and newspapers and even the internet sources. This paper also tackles an important issue in most African states. The paper will assist people understand the nature of politic as well as unearthing the level of religiosity of the people of Kenya

Assessing Community Health Volunteers’ Knowledge Level on Cervical Cancer in Kadibo, Kisumu County: A Cross Sectional Survey-1

Data set for the manuscript titled, "Assessing Community Health Volunteers’ Knowledge Level on Cervical Cancer in Kadibo, Kisumu County: A Cross Sectional Survey

Communicating African Spirituality through Ecology: Challenges and Prospects for the 21st Century

This review was set in the context of African spirituality and ecology. Specifically, the review addressed issues of African spirituality and the environment from a Kenyan context. Through analyses on existing literature, we examined African worldviews, determined how African spirituality was communicated through the environment, evaluated African ways of regulating the use of the environment, and explored challenges facing African spirituality and ecology today. Results show that African spirituality has been enhanced through the environment where humanity worshipped and venerated everything under the earth, on earth, between the earth and heavens and in the heavens above. Consequently, various methods to restrict the utilization of certain natural resources are employed as a way of conserving the environment. Additional findings demonstrate that African spirituality and ecology are currently facing a number of challenges, hence a major challenge of sustainability of African spirituality in regard to environment. From a spiritual point of view, it is therefore recommended that environmental diversity should be conserved through sustainable development where every person from grassroots level is involved in protecting and maintaining God’s creation. We conclude that African knowledge and belief systems on environmental sustainability could be revitalized and used in environmental conservation