Friday, 27 November 2015. CNN Centre,London.
It’s 10am in Nighrobi, 8am in Rome. This is CNN.
Welcome to our ongoing coverage of the pope’s first visit to Africa. I’m Aisha Sesei in London.
Pope Francis arrived in Nighrobi, Kehnya on Wednesday afternoon on his first leg of a long awaited visit to Africa. His Holiness was received by President Uwhoru Kehnyatta, himself a Catholic, and was treated to a 21 gun military salute at State House Nighrobi.
But the highlight of his visit to Kehnya was yesterday’s Papal Mass at University of Nighrobi grounds attended by two hundred thousand people.
We now join our reporter Kristin Amanpur live from Nighrobi. Kristin.
Camera cuts to Kristin in Nighrobi. She’s walking between Mohi Avenue and Tom Mboyar Street just outside National Archives building. Statue of Tom Mboyar in the background. A crowd mills around her.
Kristin: Good morning Aisha! It’s a wonderful morning in Nighrobi and this city of four million is just waking up from the high of hosting the Holy Father and celebrating mass with him yesterday.
Nighrobi was brought to a virtual standstill for the better part of Thursday with the government pulling all stops to ensure the Papal Mass went on without a hitch. The Central Business District was closed to all vehicular traffic with most motorists being forced to park their cars and walk one mile to the venue.
It helped matters that the government declared Thursday a public holiday and a national day of prayer and reflection.
There are an estimated fourteen million Catholics in Kehnya and thousands of them from up country hired buses and made up to twelve hour trips to the capital to celebrate mass with the pope. I talked to a few of them and this is what they had to say:
Kristin plays a video clip of events recorded yesterday shortly after the Papal Mass.
Kennedy Ochieng: I only see the Pope on TV so this was the perfect opportunity for me to come see him live and confirm he’s actually the one. When President Obama came home in July the government told us to stay at home and I didn’t see him live. But this time we were asked to come see the Pope in our numbers. As you can see, we have really poured into town.
Emma Cherop: Myself I’m a Catholic from Eltoret. When we heard Pope is coming to Nighrobi we went to church and asked ourselves, “Why can’t we go to Nighrobi?” Police stopped our bus at Uthiroo and told us to walk to town. I’ve not seen him live but I’m very happy he came to see us.
Paul Kimani: The Pope’s visit is always a big blessing. He talked about peace and unity. But he should also have spoken against false prophets and those pastors who ask Kehnyans to panda mbegu. It’s a big problem in this country.
Kristin: Well, there you have it. Different people from different places across the country had different reasons to attend the papal mass. Aisha.
Aisha: Kristin, could you please expound on the pertinent issues Pope Francis touched on during mass?
Kristin: The Pope’s visit to Africa has been centred on a message of peace and hope. It’s the perfect theme for a continent afflicted by poverty and incessant conflict. Pope Francis comforted Kehnyans who have borne terrorist attacks in the recent past. He prayed for unity across the country’s tribes and called for different religions to unite on common ground even in their diversity. Aisha.
Aisha: Corruption has been a pain in the side of Kehnya’s government. We understand President Kehnyatta asked the pope to pray for him fight the vice.
Kristin: The Pope’s visit to Kehnya has been prefaced by reports of sickening corruption in President Kehnyatta’s government. In fact, on the eve of the Pope’s visit, the President sacked five of his ministers facing corruption charges and reshuffled his cabinet. Another minister facing allegations of corruption quit last Saturday. It remains to be seen whether the pontiff’s prayers succeed where the country’s institutions have failed. Aisha.
Heavyweight of Organized Religion
Aisha: Thanks a lot Kristin. We’re now joined live from Nighrobi by Yohann Githongo of the Institute of Public Policy Research. He’s also been speaking against corruption in Kehnya for ten years now. Hello Yohann.
TV screen splits into two. Yohann Githongo is in an office with a shelf of books to his left. Nighrobi’s iconic KICC building can be seen through the window behind him.
Githongo: Hello Aisha.
Aisha: Yohann, what do you make of the Pope’s visit to Kehnya?
Githongo: Coming hot on the heels of President Obama’s visit in July, the Pope’s visit to Kehnya once again reaffirms this East African nation’s strategic geopolitical position in the wider Horn of Africa region. However, and perhaps tragically, the international community’s shining of the spotlight on Kehnya has –in total contravention of the laws of the animal kingdom – emboldened rather than cowered the rats and cockroaches that run the country’s political landscape.
The hiatus between President Obama’s and the pontiff’s visits has been filled by reports of heart rending corruption right from the top to the bottom of Kehnya’s governance ladder. Elements on the fringes of Kehnya’s main political parties have been spewing hate and sharpening their tongues and machetes in readiness for the fast approaching General Election in 2017.
Pope Francis comes in at a time ethics, integrity and general good manners have been thrown to the dogs in a country that is ironically deeply religious. In fact, we’ve seen in the last month Kenya become probably the first country in the world where candidates sat their national examinations on Whatsapp. The level of cheating and collusion between teachers, students and the police can only be described as of titanic proportions.
The last five years have also seen the proliferation of false prophets and their briefcase churches in the religious reckoning of the population. This visit presents an opportunity for locals to get up close with the real heavyweight of organized religion.
When all is said and nothing is done, the Pope’s visit is a joyous occasion sullied by an otherwise disheartening prognosis of the country’s fundamental maladies. Aisha.
Aisha: Talking of the country’s health, could you please shed some light on Kehnya’s vital signs?
Githongo: The diagnosis doesn’t make for fine reading. While CNN’s July reference to Kehnya as a hotbed of terror was a tad too exaggerated, insecurity has proved to be President Kehnyatta’s biggest challenge. He could be forgiven on that score seeing that Al Shabaab was not in his manifesto but critics will point out that he should have seen it coming.
Meanwhile, the shilling continues on its downward spiral against the dollar and that coupled with unprecedented cash flow challenges, has driven interest rates through the roof. The IMF has recalibrated Kehnya’s growth projections in 2015 from 7.2% to 6.8% flagging investors’ optimism.
The current El Nino rains pounding the country spell bad news for production in the third quarter. Aisha.
Willian Ruhto Resigns
Aisha: I’m sorry Yohann. We’ll have to hold up that conversation a little to cover some breaking news from Nighrobi.
Yohann Githongo is now out of the picture.
Reports reaching our newsroom indicate that Kehnya’s President Uwhoru Kehnyatta has come out to clear the air over his relationship with one of his former cabinet secretaries. It’s not clear at the moment whether that announcement has got anything to do with his meeting with the Pope. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that Deputy President Willian Rhooto may have resigned after a confessional session with the pontiff. We now join our reporter Kristin Amanpur live from Nighrobi. Kristin.
Kristin: Aisha, this has to go down as a momentous and totally unprecedented move by the President to come out discussing what has been hitherto a subject only whispered and rumoured in the streets of Nighrobi for the better part of this year.
An Opposition politician alleged earlier this year that there’s more than meets the eye between President Kehnyatta and one of his female ministers informed by the fact that the head of state was unwilling to fire her amidst rising reports of corruption in her docket. Reports are also trickling in of a probable resignation of Deputy President Willian Rhooto. I’ll now play that video clip of the President addressing the nation together with a crew of politicians guilty of some misdemeanours this year.
Uwhoru: My fellow countrymen, it is with great sobriety, piety and in keeping with the spirit of honesty engendered by the visit of his Holiness Pope Francis that I come to you as your President to report that I, together with a few other national leaders hosted the Pope this morning at State House where he granted us a confessional session.
At this juncture, I acknowledge the rumours that have been going round town about me and a former high ranking government official.
I recognize this is not the right time to address such issues. But I’ve spoken to my wife First Lady Mahgret Kehnyatta, my bishop Yohann Cardinal Njue and the other person involved and promised to clear the air of this matter in a few weeks time.
Meanwhile, together with me are politicians from across the board who have in one way or another failed to live up to the lofty ethical standards required of public servants. They too have come from the confessional with hearts full of contrition. More than that, they all agreed to carry out Pope-sanctioned acts of penance around Nighrobi as a public show of their remorse.
Jeorge Allahdwa, Mic Sonko, Mootahi Ngoonyi and Yohannstone Muthama may have used their motor mouths to divide Kehnyans this year but they’ve all agreed to channel their talents to singing praise for the Lord. Subsequently, they’ve since requested to join the choir at Nighrobi’s Holy Family Basilica Catholic Church.
I know my local Member of Parliament Moses Courier has been cooling his heels in remand prison on similar charges since the Pope arrived but I’m pretty certain that he’s clutching his rosary and saying his Hail Marys as he waits for his case to be heard.
Leader of Majority Adan Dwale may not be Catholic or Christian for that matter but he too has joined the holiness and repentance band wagon by admitting his remarks about Governor Izak Ruhto’s mother were out of place. He’s since agreed to mop the floors at Nighrobi Women’s Hospital for one week as a good mother, wife or house help would.
Finally, my fellow countrymen, I would like to accept the resignation of my Deputy President Willian Ruhto. Willian spent the longest time in the confessional room and his emotional state could not allow him to be here with us today.
In his resignation letter, Willian confirmed that he’d surrendered Waystone Hotel to Kehnya Airports Authority among other properties allegedly acquired in a cloud of mystery. In the same letter, the former Deputy President admitted that his ongoing case at the International Criminal Court coupled with his not so rosy links with the Mau make him the antithesis of peace and climate change – the Pope’s calling cards.
Kristin: Well, well, well. No one saw that coming. The Pope came to Kehnya with a message of hope but his presence has tied the futures of the country’s major political actors in a knot. I now take you back to Aisha in London as we keep tabs on this developing story. Aisha.
The Boehner-Ruhto-Zacchaeus Connection
Aisha: Thanks a lot Kristin. Just in case you’re joining us we’re following events in Kehnya where Deputy President Willian Ruhto has tendered in his resignation moments after stepping out of a confessional session with visiting Pope Francis.
It’s worth noting that John Boehner, former US Speaker of the House of Representatives also resigned after meeting the pope at the tail end of his US visit.
Now, Willian Ruhto has history of getting a little too emotional while attending worship services. The images on your screen show him breaking into tears at a church service shortly after he and Uwhoru Kehnyatta won the 2013 Kehnya presidential election.
We now go back to Yohann Githongo in Nighrobi. Yohann, Willian Ruhto has done a John Boehner. What do you make of his resignation?
Githongo: Considering how many times Willian Ruhto has gone back on his word, I’ll take that news with a pinch of salt and keep my fingers crossed that this time he actually keeps his word.
Willian Ruhto is, for all intents and purposes, a modern day Zacchaeus – except he isn’t short. Question marks hang over his substantial wealth and like his biblical counterpart, he thankfully has the presence of mind to submit to a higher being nonetheless. Where Zacchaeus met Jesus, Willian met Pope Francis.
On this note, I would like to stretch the imagination and wager that Opposition Leader Railor Odingha may be tempted to cross the floor and join President Kehnyatta as his deputy, taking the country back to 2001 when he left NDP to join President Mohi’s KANU with an eye on the 2002 elections. History repeats itself, doesn’t it? Aisha.
Aisha: It really does Yohann. Thanks a lot for joining us on CNN International.
Yohann: Welcome.
Aisha: We now take a break. We’ll be back with more news and views on the Kenyan situation.
End.
Nelson Morang'a 