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The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) yesterday opposed attempts to postpone the 2022 General Election.

Archbishop Dr Jackson ole Sapit (left) sounded the caution while calling on key stakeholders to ensure preparations towards next year’s elections are well planned to guarantee a peaceful, credible, free and fair process.

“We strongly discourage any discussion or attempt at postponing the 2022 elections.

We also appeal to people in areas where currently there are by-elections to observe peace and model good example of mature politics and tolerant divergent views,” said Sapit, at a press conference held at the All Saints’ Cathedral in Nairobi.

Respect for court ruling

Admitting that the country needs to reform certain aspects of the Constitution and institutions, Sapit called for respect of the court ruling on Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

Since the matter of constitutional reforms through the BBI proposed changes is now in court, Sapit said that other urgent legislative matters should be prioritised by Parliament.

To this end, the Primate called upon Parliament to urgently finalise the development and subsequent enactment of various laws touching on elections that include Political Party Primaries Bill, Referendum Bill, Campaign Finance (Amendment) Bill and Gender Parity Bill.

On the state of the economy, the cleric said there continues to be a glaring disproportion between revenue and expenditure, especially in the 2021/2022 fiscal years.

He said expectations are that Sh3.02 trillion will be spent, with a budgetary deficit of Sh930 billion hence foreign and domestic borrowing of Sh399.1 billion and Sh530 billion respectively.

“The public debt stands at Sh7.2 trillion, which is 71.2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The debt-to-GDP ratio has surged from 39 per cent of GDP in 2013 to 71.2 per cent in 2021.