Anglicans up in arms

The church is supposed to be a sacred institution where troubled souls seek solace, but the Anglican Diocese of Upper Shire (Adus) is itself in need of peace makers to resolve a rebellion against its Bishop Brighton Malasa.

The Anglican Church’s predominantly Eastern Region diocese has 41 parishes and out of these, representatives of 37 parishes met at St. George’s Parish in Zomba on Saturday where they agreed to remove Malasa from office, according to leaked communication.

Senior parish representatives that included wardens, also resolved to ban the bishop from visiting all parishes within the diocese’s jurisdiction and agreed to stop forthwith paying their quota, a monthly contribution parishes are required to pay to the diocese.

The parishes, according to the communication, accuse Malasa of funds abuse, greed and being power hungry.

Further, the parishes accuse the bishop of grabbing board chairmanships of most schools and health facilities in the diocese.

The Upper Shire Diocese is considered the richest diocese in the Anglican Church with St. Michael’s Girls Secondary School in Malindi, Mangochi, Malosa Secondary School, St. Luke’s Hospital, St. Luke’s Nursing School in Zomba, St. Martin Hospital in Malindi, Matope Health Centre and Nkope Health Centre and School for the Blind.

The diocese also jointly runs Chilema Ecumenical Training Centre with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP).

When contacted, Malasa, in a written response to a questionnaire on Tuesday, declined to comment, saying the diocese would issue a statement on its position on the matters.

The wrangles did not spare the eye of the bishops of the Anglican Council in Malawi, which has since commissioned Bishop Alinafe Kalemba of the Diocese of Southern Malawi to mediate in the issue to find a solution.

In a letter dated December 15 2018, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Northern Malawi, Fanuel Magangani, wrote Malasa expressing the council’s concern with the developments and that as a council; they commissioned Kalemba on a peace mission.

Reads the letter in part: “We are requesting that you give room to allow him participate in the discussion to bring peace. He is coming to you on behalf of all of us and we pray that you cooperate to complete the mission for peace. We are all of the same family and we are because you are.”

Magangani’s letter is copied to St. George’s Parish warden and all his fellow bishops, including Francis Kaulanda of Diocese of Lake Malawi.

In an interview on Tuesday, Magangani confirmed writing the letter, but said it was premature to comment further because his brother Bishop Kalemba was yet to report back to them.

He said: “These are allegations and we have seen some of them on social media, it may be something different on the ground, so we better wait until we get something tangible.”

St. George’s Parish warden, Liz Chikoti, confirmed in an interview yesterday that she received the letter from the Bishops’ Council and that they were ready to meet Bishop Kalemba for the intended mediation.

She also confirmed the existence of the wrangles and concerns the Christians are raising, but said it would be inappropriate for her to comment further on the issues, fearing doing so would jeopardise the anticipated mediation process.

But on the other hand, based on the same allegations raised against Bishop Malasa, the troubles have culminated into cutting off of some international monetary aid the Diocese of Upper Shire receives for Sunday School Department.

Well-placed sources disclosed that Chris Walker, a representative of donors based in Canada, informed Malasa in writing on December 13 2018 that Malawi Committee had resolved not to remit their budgetary amounts for the diocese, which were due to be remitted this December for the first half of 2019 owing to the allegations.

The source quoted Walker as having said: “Over the last many years we have been aware of many allegations of monies not being used for their designated purpose.

“Such allegations have recently increased. We have also noted disharmony in the Adus, which continues to grow. These matters are very unhealthy. Consequently, we shall not remit any funds to the Adus until these matters have been resolved.”

And in his response, according to the source, Malasa responded to Walker on the same day, and copied it to at least five people linked to the project the funds were meant for, accusing him of opting to listen to gossip.

The source quotes Malasa’s response: “Yes, allegations are allegations. People decide what they want to communicate/gossip to you, but at the end of the day, you have the power to agree or disagree and in this context, you have decided to agree [to] gossip.”

Another source, corroborating the communication, said Malasa wrote to Walker that there was an agreement that official communication shall be done between the Bishop of Upper Shire and him [Walker], but he chose not to respect that.

Malasa is quoted to have said it was “unchristian and unhealthy” to work on gossip, but said he respected the decision by the Malawi Committee.

The bishop, the sources said, demanded to know in his response the allegations levelled against him or the diocese, but conceded a beggar had no choice.

Malasa further asked for direction on the funding withdrawal to enable the diocese terminate a contract of the officer attached to the project, according to the source.

In their communiqué after the Saturday meeting, the representatives of the parishes alleged the aid that come from outside Malawi meant to help priests in poor parishes does not reach the intended beneficiaries.

They said, in their communiqué, some donors have already cut their aid due to questions over how the funds are managed.

They claimed various developmental projects in parishes such as Magomero, Matope, Nkopola, St. Martin’s Malindi and Mpondasi Cathedral have stalled because financiers, government and nongovernmental organisations, sent their aid directly to the diocese and the same was not remitted to them.

The parishes, which agreed to write a strongly-worded letter to Zambian-based Archbishop who oversees Malawi, Albert Chama, also allege that the bishop bypasses a procurement committee when procuring goods for the diocese.

The communique has names and signatures of 48 leaders from various parishes.

The source said some four parishes, including where the embattled bishop is based, Malosa, did not indicate reasons for not making it to the Saturday meeting but said it was clear those from Malosa feared reprisals being a parish where the bishop is based.

He suspected the remaining three parishes may have either feared reprisals, are in support of him or may have faced transport logistical challenges or may not have received timely communication.