Atheists fail to get signatures to remove ‘God’ from Kenya’s national anthem

Atheists have withdrawn their online petition for the removal of the word ‘God’ from the National Anthem.

This comes after they failed to convince Kenyans to sign it. Only 97 people signed the petition.

This means that the memorandum did not meet the threshold for it to be presented before parliament.

In a statement on Friday, Atheists in Kenya president Harrison Mumia said the results showed that Kenyans were not ready for the change the group sought.

“From the feedback we have received so far, it has become clear that the petition would not be approved by Parliament, and majority of Kenyans are against this initiative,” Mumia said.

Mumia added that the petition did not mean that they want to interfere with the freedom of worship, belief, expression and association as seen by others.

He said that their intention was for the National Anthem to express the diversity of Kenyan’s beliefs and opinions.

“This diversity, we believe, is what the President talked about on ‘Mashujaa Day’ when he said that we should foster unity,” he noted.

He also called on the government to ensure their members are not discriminated against.