ANGLICAN-INFORMATION
When will they ever learn?

History is repeating itself as the Anglican Central African Province House of Bishops under the 'guidance' of acting Dean Albert Chama of Northern Zambia, continues to force its programme of preferred candidates on the Dioceses of of Lake Malawi and Upper Shire. Meeting at the end of this month the Bishops will attempt to impose Henry M'baya on Lake Malawi and Alinafe Kalemba, Dean of Leonard Kamungu Theological College, Zomba on Upper Shire.

Both of these candidates are unpopular and both dioceses have already democratically indicated that they do not want imposed candidates. In the case of Lake Malawi the people have long since have voted overwhelmingly for the Rev'd Nicholas Henderson who was then declared to be of 'unsound faith' in a ridiculous decision by a contrived Court of Confirmation two years ago.

Subsequently, Bishop Chama sought to force new elections on Lake Malawi but courageously the people stopped these by appealing to a Civil Court, as reported by us in earlier releases. The House of Bishops' case is so weak that they have now had to resort to hiring professional lawyers at great and wasteful expense to try and assert that synodical procedures have been followed when they manifestly have not.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes the scandal that precious church monies should be wasted by the bishops in attempting to prop up their foolish decision to force new elections when proper synodical procedures had already been agreed.

Herein is the problem, as the chosen successor (following the sacking of the Bishop of Botswana) to former Archbishop Bernard Malango, Bishop Chama, who is amusingly nicknamed in Malawi 'Son of Malango', has like his 'father', failed to understand the conciliar nature of Anglican episcopacy, which has as its basis the concept of 'Bishop in Synod'. Thus correct synodical procedures have constantly been flouted as Chama, following in Malango's footsteps has sought to crush any opposition and impose his own agenda. Ironically, this is exactly the style of Chama’s old friend Nolbert Kunonga former bishop of Harare, Zimbabwe, who despite the overwhelming wish of the people and clergy to rejoin the Province under the leadership of Bishop Sebastian Bakare, is holding out (literally) in St Mary's Cathedral and encouraging violence and intimidation in order to cling to power.

What is deeply sad is that the rest of the House of Bishops, embedded in a culture of deference and fearful of standing up, have allowed Chama to orchestrate such a mess in Malawi and to trample over correct procedures. In this respect we have been asked to publish the letter below from all the Archdeacons of Upper Shire Diocese protesting in a very reasonable way against the actions of Chama and the bishops.
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From: The Archdeacons of Diocese of Upper-shire

To: “The Dean ‘The Church of the Province of Central Africa”

Date: 12.03.2008

Cc: All The Bishops in the Province
The Vicar General DUS
The Chancellor DUS
The Diocesan Secretary DUS

Subject: The Aftermath of The Dead-Lock of the Elective Assembly

Dear Bishop Chama,

In the Name of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, greetings to you the Dean of ‘The Church of the Province of Central Africa”

Following the Vicar Generals briefing on the end result of the elective assembly session as it was held on February 16 2008 at the Church of Ascension, Malosa, Zomba, Malawi, and after having consulted widely from within and without the parishes, the Archdeacons felt it was necessary to revisit the issue and come up with resolutions to be presented to your lordship the Dean of this Province of Central Africa for your consideration.

These are the concerns and views of the Laity, Clergy and Archdeacons themselves, as the general overview mind of the diocese as the whole.

The following resolutions were discussed at length and finally agreed to be written and Sent to your lordship the Dean for your careful consideration at the Episcopal Synod and if possible receive your attention even before the Episcopal synod for the well being of the diocese.

1. All the Archdeacons reported and agreed that their constituent parishes are humbly requesting for “The Rerun of the Election of Bishop of Upper-Shire” for the following reasons

• Parishes were not given enough traditional times it is stipulated in canon 6:6 giving them ample time to meditate, discuss and pray-over as
the church., through Parish Church Council and Archdeaconry meetings to allow them to consult and make lasting and informed
nominations.
• Parishes were officially notified and mandated, and members of the elective assembly issued summons on February 20 and given February
26 as deadline, barely six days to come up with nominations, such that two parishes failed to come up with nominations and these were
Namalomba and Lisungwi.
• Parishes were notified 20 days after the see was vacant, which is contrary to canon 6:6 which gives not more than 30 days prior to the day
when the see will be vacant, from the day when the incumbent Bishop’s resignation was accepted, and approved by the bishop of the
province.
• An earlier official notification would have given the parishes enough time to prepare for the electoral process as well as raise funds for the
consecration of the new bishop as well as remove the fear of being suspected of pushing the incumbent bishop out of office before time.

2 Parishes are not convinced that they have failed to choose a bishop but rather feel having been forced to fail by being given a very short period of time to concentrate on the electoral process.

• Parishes are not sure if the incumbent members of the elective assembly gave consent in delegating the Episcopal Synod to chose them a
bishop because none has said so.
• According to the information shared parishes are not sure if the process of delegating the Episcopal synod was done in accordance with
canon 6.9 under supporting rules of the elective assembly number 8 which stipulates that the elective assembly shall decide through a 2/3
majority voting as an answer of “Yes we have failed to choose a bishop” we are delegating the same duty to the Episcopal synod to choose a
bishop.

3 We sadly feel that we are in this situation because two of the very vital instruments of the diocese, either were not in place or could not
exercise the authority they deserve and these are:

• The office of the vicar general: and the Dean in our situation as indicated in Canon 14.1 where the bishop’s resignation demands the I
immediate appointment of the vicar general to regulate general business of the diocese and where this is not possible, the Dean to enforce
that as soon a is possible the vicar general to appoint.
• However we would like to commend the efforts expressed by the two offices though with recent appointments.

In conclusion parishes feel having been disregarded in the whole electoral process and being denied the pride of being able to choose their own bishop to whom they would have been paying full allegiance, cherish and support whole heartedly for the success of the entire diocese of Upper-hire.

On behalf of all the parishes the Archdeacons would like to plead with your noble office to hearken to these please for the sake of peace and brotherly love among Gods people as it is expected of them to be exemplary to the world.

We remain your humble Servants!

Yours in His Service

Ven Fr Edward Kawinga Archdeacon

Ven Fr John Chilome Archdeacon

Ven Geoffrey Kondwani Archdeacon

Ven Fr Samuel Majeza Archdeacon

Ven Thom Mpinga Archdeacon
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We also publish a recent e-mail received - name witheld for usual security reasons and to prevent intimidation by the bishops:

6th March, Upper Shire Diocese

I was born and grew up in an Anglican environment and I am happy to be so. But recent events are giving me sleepless nights. What has gone wrong with our once mighty church? Today you hear of a Bishop imposing his friend to be the Bishop of another diocese and tomorrow you hear of a different issue. Is it because God has forsaken us or greed is showing its ugly head?

It started with the Diocese of Lake Malawi whereby the then Archbishop wanted to impose a Bishop on the church which sparkled an uproar. Now it is the Diocese of Upper Shire (my own diocese) which is in a mess. Somebody wants to impose his right hand man on the Diocese. Can't these so called Bishops learn a lesson from the Diocese of Lake Malawi? Or are they operating these dioceses as personal estates?

Time has come for them to realise that churches are not headmanships where you can pick your cousin or son to inherent your chieftancy. Even political parties do elect their leaders at a convention and not hand picking as if you are picking mangoes from a basket.

Let God chose a leader for us and not vice versa. Gone are days when you people in robes used to fool us. We are now focus towards our God and not a human being.

We don't want trouble in our diocese as the case is/was in our sister diocese of Lake Malawi. Mind you Bishops, money will take you nowhere. Guide the church in good faith and God will bless you abundantly.

It is unfortunate that there is a lot of double standards in our church. We hate the Azungus (whites) and yet we need them for our survival. Why do we need such people in time of need for financial support and when it comes to leadership we throw them away. Is this not hypocrite at its best?

Unless the present greedy Bishops learn to humble themselves and follow God's words, the church will end up losing its members to Pentecostal church which are flowering like vendors on the street.

A concerned member
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