Nyeri Catholic Archbishop Anthony Muheria has chimed in on the Friday incident in which a man almost disrupted the late former President Mwai Kibaki’s State funeral service at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Muheria was hailed by Kenyans after he expertly de-escalated the situation by calmly moving the man away from the microphone as security agents showed up to contain the situation.
Speaking in Othaya on Saturday, ahead of Kibaki’s burial service which he will preside over, Muheria downplayed his perceived heroic act saying anybody in his shoes would probably have done the same.
“I think it is what we should do as Christians even in functions of that calibre. We should not lose touch of who we are and I won’t take much credit. It’s something that we should be doing ordinarily,” the clergyman told Citizen TV.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise. I think everyone, not just church leaders, should try to show a gesture of mercy whenever an occasion appears like that.”
He likewise reiterated his Friday wish that law enforcement agents who arrested the man give him the help that he requires.
“We don’t foresee these things like that but we handle them as the Holy Spirit guides us. I think it was a young man who was a bit deranged or emotional and I hope he is looked upon with mercy,” he said.
Muheria went on to say that the Saturday service will be more devotional as it will be the late former president’s final farewell ceremony before he is laid to rest at his family home in Othaya later on Saturday.
“Today is not a State funeral in the sense of all the military arrangements and processes, here is more the funeral so we have mass then the interment. Of course the military will be in charge of the whole process since they are burying their Commander-in-Chief but basically here is more prayerful,” Muheria said.
Two other archbishops, Muheria added, will help him conduct the ceremony, a deviation from the State event where nine senior clergymen led the proceedings.
The Archbishop also expects approximately 50 religious leaders from other denominations to grace the event.
“We will pray together as a nation even though the requiem mass will be led by the Catholic Church,” he said.
One thing that the Saturday mass will share with the State service on Friday, Muheria went on, is that it will strive to limit political talks in its program.
“We want to respect the will of the man we are burying who never spoke in church. It was his principle he never wished that politics be spoke in church and we must respect the will of the family who have wished that there be no politics in the funeral so I think it will be in the same line,” he said. BY DAILY NATION