Meru — Catholic bishop of Diocese of Meru Rt Rev Salesius Mugambi has called on all the faithful to support the Church in Meru and the rest of Kenya to be self sufficient. He said that donor funding, which is diminishing, cannot be relied upon to smoothly run the Local Church.

"This should be strengthened; self reliance for the parishes because I believe when the parishes are self reliant, then the diocese will be. Because...now they used to come to the diocesan office to look for what we have, especially the poorer parishes.

Now, as we go on, we want to make sure that even the better parishes are better placed with finances; they can also help the poorer ones, but we need to have a program for that and procedure to do that.

And that is where we are now; trying to go to every parish to make sure that they have put in place something that will bring income to the parish...Even if it means contributing," said Bishop Mugambi in an exclusive interview with CISA.

"There are special contributions created of late like the Family Day for the diocese. We want to make sure that every parish has a family day; before you come to the family day of the diocese," he further added.

He praised the Catholic Diocese of Machakos which is considered a role model when it comes to Small Christian Communities and in contributions. "Machakos is one of the strongest," he said.

On the stimulant Miraa (Khat) widely planted and used in Meru he said that "for us, we have taken it as an income-bringing product. However, it has a few social negative effects in the society, especially where they are grown. It is affecting the youth; they do not go to school for it brings in money and they have come to believe that you go to school to get money; if you are employed, you get money.

But now here is money that you get whether you go to school or not, so better get the easier one. Go the easier way; you pluck miraa, everyday you have your income. So why go to school? That's one of the effects.

Then, the money which comes in is not well invested for the development of the society there. Where it is grown life is very expensive; everything has to be bought from the shops not to mention school fees," he said.

He advices all the faithful to deepen their faith and called them to be united in prayer and work, helping each other where they can especially as we approach the next General Elections.