Catholic bishops have stepped up their push-back against the government by launching a 40-day campaign and prayers against injustice, social and economic ills bedeviling the nation.

Speaking in Mombasa Friday, the clergy condemned runaway corruption, arbitrary abductions, over-taxation and the introduction of a dysfunctional new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).

After months of calls on the government to end abduction and extrajudicial killings, the bishops said all priests and the Church leadership will dedicate the lent period to sensitising Kenyans and praying.

In the campaign christened The Kenya We Deserve, the bishops appeared to wash their hands off the regime some of them supported, saying it had failed to respect the sanctity of life.

“We express profound dismay over abductions and extrajudicial killings that threaten the sanctity of life and our nation,” said their chairman, Archbishop Maurice Muhatia Makumba.

Makumba said the ongoing political campaigns and realignment are meant to divert Kenyans’ attention from their problems and create a euphoria ahead of the 2027 general election.

In a statement read on behalf of all the bishops, Makumba said the emerging ethnic mobilisation was also meant to divide Kenyans and manipulate them.

“Over the decades, the exploitation of ethnic identities for political gain has led to violence and deep societal fractures. Today, we stand resolute in our commitment to learn from these painful lessons that every person, regardless of political affiliations and ethnicities, deserves to be treated with utmost dignity,” he Arch Makumba said.

Makumba, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) chairman, said the church had a renewed resolve to address the people’s pressing issues towards the nation’s desired unity, justice, and hope.

The over 10 Catholic bishops met on Friday at the scenic Mama Ngina Waterfront in Mombasa for the annual ritual of launching the 40 days of Lent.

According to the Kenyan Episcopate, the country is facing many pressing issues that need to be addressed immediately and that all efforts should be deployed to ensure that normalcy is achieved.

The bishops reiterated that Kenya urgently needs to fix its crumbling education system, inadequate and confusing health care services, very high unemployment rate among school finishers, and runaway corruption.

They said that there is blatant abuse of human rights in the country, with many cases of abductions, torture, and killings.

The bishops said that during the Lenten Period, Catholics will observe special prayers on Fridays and fast in order to appease God to save the nation from further deteriorating into messy affairs.

Nyeri Archbishop Anthony Muheria said the bishops have devised five weekly thematic areas that will help shape this year’s Lenten period.

He said the first week focuses on the church’s foundation and stability, while Week Two delves into the evil of corruption, which he equated to cancer that eats away the social fabric of the nation.

‘’Justice has been undermined while perpetrators walk scot-free. The Kenya we desire ought to be a corruption-free one,’’ Archbishop Muheria said.

On Kenyan youth, Muheria said that there lies untapped potential in the way youths can take up active roles to bring development in the country.

In Week Four, he said, the role of civic education to help all access decent education must be attained.

In Week Five, Muheria explained that the Church will pursue a common goal where environmental degradation and exploitation of natural resources need to be tackled, leading to living more sustainably.

Muheria challenged the three arms of government to work together to promote equity.