Rev. Waruisam Macharia, Senior Pastor of Deliverance Church Waithaka; church elders and leaders; fellow officers of the National Police Service; honourable candidates present; distinguished guests; brothers and sisters in Christ:
Good morning, and greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I begin by thanking Deliverance Church Waithaka for this invitation, and for the vision behind this Peace Concert. It is not by accident that a church has brought us together this morning. Peace is not only a security matter. It is a matter of the heart. And there is no better place to begin the work of peace than in a house of worship, under the Word of God.
As the Administration Police Commander for Dagoretti South, I carry the responsibility of security in this constituency. That duty is solemn. It is also incomplete if we treat security as the whole story.
I have come to learn, over the years, that no police officer, however dedicated, can secure a community that has not first chosen peace for itself. Security is what we do when peace has already been broken. What we are doing here today praying, gathering and committing ourselves to one another is what prevents that breaking from happening in the first place.
That is why I accepted this invitation without hesitation. The church, the community, political leaders, and security agencies are not competing institutions. We are partners in one assignment: that the people of Dagoretti South should live, work, worship, and raise their children in safety and dignity.
On the season we are entering
As we approach the forthcoming elections, I want to speak plainly.
Elections are not meant to divide us. They are simply peaceful, constitutional processes through which we choose leadership. The moment we allow that process to turn neighbour against neighbour, family against family, estate against estate, we have lost something far more valuable than any seat being contested.
Kenya has paid a high price in the past when politics was allowed to become personal, when rumours replaced facts, and when young people were used as instruments of fear. Dagoretti South must not walk that road. We have too much to protect: our homes, our markets, our schools, our churches, our matatus, our small businesses, and the quiet ordinary life that most of our people want.
A ballot is not a weapon. A campaign is not a battlefield. A rival is not an enemy.
To the candidates who will sign the Peace Accord
To the candidates present here today who will sign the Peace Accord: this is not a ceremonial gesture. It is a covenant before God, before this community, and before the security agencies present in this room.
It means your campaign will be about ideas, not incitement. It means your language will cool the temperature, not raise it.
It means you will discipline your agents and your supporters. It means you will not hire gangs, circulate hate messages, or treat public gatherings as opportunities for intimidation.
It means that when the results are announced, you will respect the law, use legal channels if you have a dispute, and refuse to set this constituency on fire for a political prize.
Your supporters will take their cue from you. If you speak with respect, they will find it harder to act with contempt. If you treat a rival as a fellow Kenyan, they will be reminded by your own example that disagreement is not hatred.
Leadership begins before anyone is elected. It begins in how you seek the office.
To the residents of Dagoretti South
To the residents of Dagoretti South: peace is not the absence of disagreement. It is the presence of respect even in disagreement.
You have a right to support the candidate of your choice. You have a right to ask hard questions. You have a right to demand better services, better leadership, and a better future. What you do not have is a right to destroy another person’s life, property, or dignity because they see the country differently.
I ask you to do four simple things between now and the elections:
One: Refuse rumours. Verify before you forward. A forwarded lie can start a fire that no apology can put out.
Two: Protect the young people in your homes. Do not send them out as tools of violence. They are not shields. They are sons and daughters.
Three: Look after one another across political lines. The neighbour who votes differently from you is still the neighbour who will help you in a funeral, a hospital, or a night of trouble.
Four: Report threats early. Do not wait until a quarrel becomes a crime. My office is open. Your local officers are open. Silence is not peace; silence is delay.
My office, and the officers under my command, will continue to work with local peace committees, with religious leaders, with nyumba kumi, with community elders, and with every one of you, so that whatever the outcome of this election, we remain one community.
To the youth
To the young people of Dagoretti South: you are the largest energy in this constituency. That energy can build, or it can burn.
Do not allow anyone to rent your anger. Do not allow anyone to tell you that violence is courage. Courage is staying in school, starting a business, protecting your sister on the way home, and saying no when a politician or a broker offers you money to cause chaos.
If you want change, vote. Organise. Speak. Serve. But do not destroy the very streets you will still have to walk on after the last poster has been pulled down.
To the women and families
To the mothers, fathers, and caregivers in this room: you are the first security system this nation has. Long before a police officer arrives, a home has already taught a child what is acceptable.
Teach peace in the kitchen, in the estate, in the chama, and in the church. When homes stay calm, streets stay calm. When families refuse to host hate, politicians find it harder to sell it.
To my fellow officers
To the officers serving with me in Dagoretti South: our duty in this season is higher than usual. We will be firm, and we will be fair. We will protect every candidate, every voter, every church, every market, and every home without fear or favour.
We will not take sides. We will take the side of the law. We will not be used. We will be professional. We will not wait for violence to mature. We will prevent it.
The public’s trust is not a slogan. It is earned in how we speak to a resident at a roadblock, how we handle a complaint, and how we restrain our own power. I expect that standard from every officer under my command.
Peace is also how we live together after the vote
Peace is not only about elections. Elections come and go. The community remains.
A peaceful Dagoretti South is also a place where children can go to school, where traders can open their shops, where women can walk without fear, where the environment is cared for, and where institutions work with the people instead of against them.
That is why, beyond the uniform, I have always believed that security and community development belong together. A hungry, idle, or bitterly divided community is harder to keep safe. A community that plants, builds, educates, and looks after its vulnerable members is already doing part of the work of peace.
The mustard seed is small. But it grows. So it is with peace. It begins with one restrained word, one refused rumour, one signed commitment, one prayer, one neighbour who chooses respect.
A word from Scripture
The Scripture set before us this morning is enough to guide a whole nation:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”—Matthew 5:9
Notice what it does not say. It does not say, blessed are those who merely wish for peace. It does not say, blessed are those who keep quiet while others prepare for conflict. It says, blessed are the peacemakers those who make peace; those who work for it; those who pay a price for it.
Every person in this room every pastor, every candidate, every resident, every officer has the chance today to be counted among the peacemakers of Dagoretti South.
Our commitment
From the security side, I give this congregation a clear commitment:
We will support this Peace Accord. We will work with the church and other faith communities throughout the electoral period. We will strengthen community policing and early-warning structures in our villages, estates, and shopping centres. We will protect life and property without discrimination. And we will remain available not only on election day, but in the long season of campaigns before it and the healing season after it.
Let us leave this service not just having prayed for peace, but having decided, in our own conduct between now and the elections, to be instruments of it.
May the God of peace watch over Waithaka, Mutuini, Uthiru, Riruta, Ngando, and every corner of this constituency. May He watch over every candidate, every officer, and every household. May Dagoretti South be known not for the noise of its politics, but for the maturity of its people.
May God bless Dagoretti South. May God bless Kenya.
Thank you, and God bless you.
