Kenya: Give law a human face says Maria Voce

Maria Voce, the President of the Focolare Movement addressed law and Social Science students at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa on her visit to Kenya, recently. Speaking to students, Voce told students, “it is not the law that contributes to the common good, but the person who contributes to promoting just laws.”

Giving law a human face and seeking justice founded on the values of fraternity was Maria Voce’s strong message. A lawyer herself and President of the Focolare Movement, Voce addressed an audience of 300 people gathered at the Faculty of Law in Nairobi.

In her talk “Law in contemporary society” Maria Voce explained how through the evolution of society, correct behaviour had become organised in systems within communities, and as states achieved political identity these systems were incorporated in their Constitutions, codes and other laws.

According to the President of the Focolare, with the coming of Christianity, “a superior law come to the fore as a reference point. It is a law that comes from God, who is Just and was given to humanity through Jesus. It is the law of love.”

Maria Voce then dwelt on the development of the African legal system where she observed that “there is a very strong communitarian tendency in which the individual is never considered in an isolated way, but always as a member of a community (family, clan, bloodline or tribe) to which the person owes duties of responsibility and from which they receive help, support and protection.”

She affirmed, furthermore, that the spirituality of communion lived by Focolare members is beginning to influence the building up of the social fabric and the rules that govern human communities.

After her talk, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Dr Maurice Owuor, emphasised the relevance of Maria Voce’s speech explaining that “love is a value that can sustain our laws.”  He affirmed that “we should place greater emphasis on educating citizens to values such as love, fraternity and obeying the law not out of fear of sanctions but because it is a good thing in itself.”

(Willy Niyansaba; Focolare Movement)