Raising Virtuous Children Key to Ending Corruption, Leaders Say at National Conference
By Ms. Teresia Muia
Teaching children about goodness and respecting them as they deserve could be the lasting solution to corruption in Kenya, according to speakers at the National Conference 2025 held on October 22–23 at the Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations (HIPSIR) off Ngong Road, Nairobi.
The two-day conference, organized by the Loyola Centre for Media and Communications (LCMC) in collaboration with the Interreligious Council of Kenya (IRCK) and the Catholic Justice and Peace Department, brought together faith leaders, policymakers, and children’s rights advocates under the theme “The Cost of Corruption: Media Discourses, Children’s Justice, and Faith Practice.”
Among the prominent speakers were Archbishop Anthony Muheria of the Nyeri Archdiocese, Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, Media Council of Kenya CEO David Omwoyo, and representatives from the Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman), the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, and other child safeguarding organizations.
Speaking during the conference, Archbishop Muheria emphasized that the fight against corruption must begin in the family.
“The first system to consider in combating the disease of corruption is the family. Parents, as the first teachers, must model positive actions such as acts of charity, mercy, and righteousness. The first thing is not to preach against corruption — it is to preach about goodness, which we rarely do,” he said.
“We must speak positively about what is right and sell the good to our children. That is how we magnetize the young people of our country.”
The Archbishop called on faith leaders and parents alike to nurture goodness as an antidote to corruption. He proposed a threefold plan: rediscovering conscience through Christian courage, upholding truth, and making a moral commitment to do what is right.
Echoing this message, Senator Omtatah urged society to treat children with dignity, describing them as a reflection of the nation’s moral standing.
“We treat children as if they are not human beings — yet they are the purest measure of our humanity. We must stop prospecting children — they are not our investments; they are our inheritance,” he said.
The senator condemned cultural practices that demean children and called for a collective mental shift to empower and respect them as a foundation for building responsible, ethical citizens.
The National Conference 2025 reaffirmed that shaping morally upright children through love, respect, and positive example could be Kenya’s most effective weapon in dismantling corruption.