Church leaders in Bomet County have appealed to the political leaders to shun contentious politics during the thanksgiving prayer service on Sunday.
The interdenominational prayer and thanksgiving service will be attended by President William Ruto and will be staged at Bomet Green Stadium.
Led by Bishop Ezekiel Rotich, they said they will not allow the politicians to perpetuate their own selfish agenda but to unite people and front developmental agendas.
“This is purely a church event where we are giving thanks to God for helping us to conduct peaceful elections during the last polls,” said Rotich.
They spoke to the journalists at Twiggs Annex Hotel.
The religious leader said the leaders should stop using the pulpit to settle political scores and instead give thanks to God for bringing this country this far.
“We should never allow a few individuals to spoil the church service and interfere with bringing up unnecessary issues which at the end of the day will not assist us. This is not campaign time,” he said.
He added that leaders should strive to improve the lives of the people and not engage in empty rhetoric.
“Let us welcome everybody in the spirit of thanksgiving and we need to come together by building our county and country at a large and ensure the dignity of every person is respected and valued,” Rotich.
The head of State has been attending various church services in different counties since taking office.
This is the first time the president is visiting the county since he was elected the fifth president of Kenya.
The last time the president toured Bomet County was during a prayer service at the same stadium on January 10, last year.
During that time, supremacy politics had dominated the meeting with aspirants of various seats engaging in a shouting match.
The move forced Ruto, who was then the deputy president; to take charge of the programme after it emerged the confrontations between leaders could escalate during the rally.
At the time of going to the press, Bomet governor Prof Hillary Barchok was meeting all the elected leaders from the county and will later issue a press statement on the preparations of the event. BY THE STAR