Kenyan presidential candidates say NO to abortion

Originally published in Christian Telegraph

In a February 19 live presidential debate, dubbed The Christian Edge and organized jointly by the country’s mainstream Church leaders, Christian media, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) and the Daystar University, five of the eight lined up presidential hopefuls, tackled various issues, chief among them was abortion and same-sex marriagesn, reports CISA.

The five presidential candidates were: Martha Karua of NARC political party; Peter Kenneth of Eagle; Prof James ole Kiyiapi of RBK, Paul Muite of SAFINA and Abduba Dida of ARK.

Those who did not make it include Uhuru Kenyatta of TNA, Raila Odinga of CORD and the Musali Mudavadi.

The debate was broadcast alive by KBC and relayed by various Christian radio Stations, country-wide.

On Abortion, Ms Karua said she was against it. “My simple stance on the issue is NO. I do not support it,” she said.

On the same-sex marriages, she felt strongly that it could better he dwelt with within the family circles.

“When I get to know that my son or my daughter is involved in it, do I condemn them, or do I simply move in to try to educate my children on the issue?” That is a question we should all try to answer.

Mr Muite said he did not support abortion and strongly believed in life promotion.

“I am a strong member of the Anglican Church in the country, whose stance on the issue is simply NO,” he said.

On the same sex marriages, Mr Muite said he did not support it, adding that, “even having said that, I am aware that this social phenomenon is in our society.”

“This is an issue we can hardly afford to ignore,” he said, adding, “Our new Constitution defines marriage as a union between people of opposite sex,” he added.

Mr Peter Kenneth said, “Both my conscience and that of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA), which I ascribe to abhor it; hence I do not support abortion.”

On the same-sex marriages, he said our new Constitution is very clear about this and we simply need to follow it to the letter.

Mr Abduba Dida said, “I did not support abortion from my Islamic faith point of view. Any killing of human life should be from God’s point view, for He is the one who created it. Just as it is the business of God to create people, it should be His business to ‘eliminate’ it when it has to happen.”

Mr Ole Kiyiapi said he did not support the abortion and that one of his strong approaches to the issue is the Church’s teaching that life begins from conception and ends with the natural death.

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On the same sex marriages, said, “This I do not ascribe to and my hope is that the new Constitution will assist us to tackle the issue.”

The debate was moderated by Joseph Warungu, a former BBC journalist.