Harrison Mumia, the Atheist president in Kenya has condemned a section of religious leaders over their stand on abortion.
Mumia has criticised the stand taken by religious leaders led by chairman of the Catholic Church bishop, Philip Anyolo on the ongoing International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) which is discussing abortion among other things.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mumia hit out at religious leaders terming their ideologies retrogressive noting that women should be at liberty to choose if or not they need birth control methods and information on the same.
“We ask Kenyans to treat these marks with contempt. We cannot keep promoting retrogressive African cultures and religious positions. It is disheartening that President Uhuru Kenyatta seems to support the religious leaders,” Mumia said.
“The government should eliminate barriers to obtaining family planning services. All women, especially the young and poor, should get free or low-cost family planning services,” he added.
The conference has been condemned by a section of Kenyan leaders among them, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto.
Both Ruto and Uhuru have maintained that they are not in support of the introduction of "foreign practices" which go against the Kenyan norms.