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Catholic World News News Feature

CHURCH CONFRONTS NEGATIVE PRESS IN KENYA August 01, 1996

An ordination ceremony in a Kenya's Central Province took a strange turn when the local priest accosted two journalists, forcing them to stand in front of the people and accusing them of filing unreliable reports on the Catholic clergy.

The remarkable incident, which took place in the town of Kerugoya, was not entirely unprecedented. Conflicts involving the press have become more frequent in this African country. And the town of Kerugoya itself has not been a happy place for Kenyan journalists to visit recently. In May of this year a press photographer was badly injured there when police confiscated his camera during a violent political demonstration.

The latest incident began when Father J. Mwangi of Kerugoya Catholic Church took advantage of presence of two journalists at a Mass at which two local men were being ordained by Bishop Peter Kiarie of the Murang'a Diocese. The congregation watched in disbelief as the priest and two other parishioners approached the men-George Munene of the Nation newspaper and a writer for the East African Standard-as they stood near the dais, and frog-marched them to the front of the church.

"I have been looking for you without success, but today I have got you," said the priest, as he warned the writers against filing untrue reports about the ceremony. "If you don't report well about this function, I will humiliate you before this congregation!"

The Kenya Times-which is owned by the nation's leading party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU)-- has frequently cast Catholic clergy in a bad light and accused them of harboring political motivations for their actions. Such accusations have become increasingly loud and frequent in the Kenyan press in recent months, as the nation's bishops have spoken out boldly against a variety of social injustices.

On the other hand, the main daily newspapers of Kenya have also come under heavy pressure recently to censor their own news, in order to avoid calling attention to dissent against the government. In particular, journalists have been encouraged not to echo, or otherwise publicize, the criticisms that Catholic clergy have leveled against KANU's human-right abuses. So the newspapers, and especially the party-owned Kenya Times, have a dual reason for impugning the integrity of bishops and priests.

Bishops in central Kenya have been particularly bold in denouncing mass tribal evictions that were secretly abetted by the ruling party. For their part, KANU officials consistently call into question evidence that their agents have been involved in the so-called "tribal clashes", and use ad-hominem attacks in an attempt to discredit the bishops. So the steadily building pressure against the Church came to a head in Kerugoya. And few Kenyans doubt that the conflict will continue.