|
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
New crisis in the Central African Province - Diocese of Harare, Zimbabwe caretaker bishop resigns. ‘Retired Bishop Sebastian Bakare, who was appointed to take over leadership of the Anglican Diocese in Harare (as reported by ANGLICAN-INFORMATION recently), has spurned the offer after the church failed to meet his demand for a US$1500 salary. Sources at Harare Diocese said even a mansion in Harare's posh Borrowdale suburb also failed to sway Bishop Bakare into taking up the post. This comes hardly two weeks after the Province openly disowned the man who took Bishop Nolbert Kunonga to court, board vice chairman Mr Phillip Mutasa, throwing the plot to oust Bishop Kunonga into a quandary.’ ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that there was no plot to oust Kunonga – he left the Province together with Bishop Jakazi Bishop of the Diocese of Manicaland of his own accord. Subsequently the Province appointed the former Bishop of Manicaland, The Rt Revd Dr Sebastian Bakare to the difficult task of returning the diocese of Harare to its rightful oversight. Bishop Bakare had started his new task by calling a meeting on Saturday 17th November of all the churchwardens in the diocese. According to the Herald newspaper – few turned up. This is almost certainly due to severe intimidation. Communications received by ANGLICAN-INFORMATION directly from Zimbabawe speak of brave Christians standing up in church to condemn Bishop Kunonga for what is happening and subsequent visits from ‘thugs’ and fears that property and cars would be tampered with. Anglicans are experiencing at first hand the consequences of living under a ruthless dictatorship and Bishop Kunonga is one of President Mugabe’s closest allies and most vocal supporters. The Herald story continues: ‘Bishop Bakare, who held his first meeting last Saturday, had been expected to hold office for a year until a new bishop for the diocese had been formally elected. According to correspondence between the Dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa and Bishop of Northern Zambia, the Rt Reverend Albert Chama, and the Anglican Church Harare Diocese, the Church has since appointed Zambian Bishop L. Mwenda as a replacement, further plunging the church into administrative chaos. "Our letter of November 7 confirms the appointment of Bishop Sebastian Bakare and we regret to inform you that he has turned down the appointment because of his demand for US$1500 as salary in the new appointment as referred to us by the Chairman of the Anglican Council of Zimbabwe, Bishop Godfrey Tawonezvi, which we cannot afford," Bishop Chama said.’ ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that whatever the real reason (and it may have been fear for his own personal safety) for turning down the position of acting Bishop on the part of Bishop Bakare, his replacement by retired Bishop Leonard Mwenda of Zambia is ill advised. It was Bishop Mwenda who was chased out of the Diocese of Lake Malawi after he was imposed on the people of Lake Malawi by Archbishop Malango after he had refused to let them have their elected Bishop the Rev’d Nicholas Henderson. Bishop Mwenda’s short tenure in Lake Malawi was a disaster with the Bishop leaving after a few weeks of great unrest. It is unrealistic therefore to suppose that he is competent to address the nightmare scenario in Zimbabawe. In making the appointment it looks like Bishop Chama is beginning to panic. ANGLICAN-INFORMATION also interprets the move as representing the still active hand of former Archbishop Bernard Malango working through the increasingly beleaguered acting Dean Bishop Chama. He was after all appointed by fiat of Malango to replace the former much-respected Dean, Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana. The Herald continues: ‘The letter (Bishop Chama’s) was addressed to all the clergy and laity in the Anglican Diocese of Harare. ‘‘As Dean of the Church of the Province of Central Africa I hereby appoint Bishop L. Mwenda to be caretaker of the Diocese of Harare in the Church of the Province of Central Africa with effect from November, 14 2007," He pleaded with the Harare Diocese to support Bishop Mwenda. "My fellow Christians, may you support him and arrange for his accommodation and transport facilities as Bishop Mwenda prepares to come from Zambia to Zimbabwe soon. We regret the confusion, but my brothers and sisters remain focused and shame the devil in these trying times." On November 7, Chama had written to the same diocese officially appointing Bishop Bakare as the Anglican Harare Diocese bishop. "We humbly request all the faithful Christians in the Diocese of Harare to support Bishop Sebastian Bakare especially in these difficult times and that God may give him knowledge and wisdom as he walks with you to where God wants you to be," he said then. ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that Harare Herald usually has to work hard to twist and spin stories but the Anglican Province of Central Africa is now making life easy for its correspondents. The Harare case is but one more example of growing unrest in the Province of Central Africa. The arbitrary contrived sacking of the the Rev’d Trevor Mwamba as Dean by the outgoing Archbishop Bernard Malango back in September has robbed the Province of the one Bishop who might have brought a return to order and common sense. Unfortunately, his replacement Bishop Chama seems to be floundering out of his depth – something must be done to rescue this tragic Province from itself ¬– let’s start with all our readers’ prayers. ……………….END……………….. ANGLICAN-INFORMATION ANGLICAN-INFORMATION is a network acting as a free conduit for news and information related to the Anglican Diocese of Lake Malawi, and the Province of Central Africa. It is organised by an international team of those who know and love Africa and Malawi well. We reserve the right to reflect on the news as we receive it for the benefit of our worldwide audience. Some archive material of public domain releases can be found at: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||