Ecumencial leader Agnes Abuom dies at 73

Agnes Abuom, the influential ecumenical leader and peacemaker died May 31 after a short illness. She was 73.

An Anglican layperson born in northwest Kenya in 1949, Abuom’s ecumenical roots ran deep with Anglican, Catholic, and Pentecostal family members. Her political engagement also emerged early and unerring, going back to her student days at the University of Nairobi, when her Christian activism led her to exile and, later, imprisonment.

In 1976, Abuom’s political involvement forced her to flee Kenya for Sweden. She returned to Kenya in 1989 and was imprisoned for her opposition to President Daniel Arap Moi. She then went on to work for the Anglican Church of Kenya, mostly with national development issues and civic education. In 1997, she launched her own agency, TAABCO Research and Development Consultants, which coordinated social action programs in the Horn of Africa.