Election troubles in Diocese of Lake Malawi

News from the Diocese of Lake Malawi tells of plans for another election of a bishop regardless of the will of the people. Anglican-Information reports on the situation:

Despite counsel to the contrary Bishop Albert Chama, acting Dean of the Province of Central Africa, is continuing with his plans for a forced election for another bishop in the Diocese of Lake Malawi.
Existing bishop
Readers will recall that the Diocese of Lake Malawi already has a validly elected bishop and that due synodical agreement had been negotiated last year with all parties by the then Dean Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana to resolve the matter of the disputed Court of Confirmation by an independent Provincial Court.

Planned forced election
Subsequently, former Archbishop Bernard Malango managed to persuade the remaining Provincial bishops to accept that new elections should be forced in Lake Malawi, even though they exceeded their constitutional powers in doing so by attempting to overrule synodical processes. It is widely thought that Malango and Bishop Chama are very reluctant to have an independent assessment of the happenings at the original Court of Confirmation, held in November 2005.

Now, following leaking of the dates concerning the proposed forced election, letters have finally gone out from Bishop Chama to parishes in Lake Malawi, ordering an election to take place – to be mysteriously located outside the diocese in Malosa, Upper Shire Diocese, the previous diocese of former Archbishop Malango. It should be noted that this ‘notification’ is also an uncanonical procedure as three months notice should be given and most parishes will be lucky to get three weeks. The article continues below.


The House of Laity of the diocese has written the following letter objecting to the new elections:

House of Laity
Diocese of Lake Malawi
18th January 2008

The Rt Rev Albert Chama
Bishop of Northern Zambia
PO Box 22317
Kitwe
Zambia

His Grace Bishop Chama,

Subject: Election of Bishop of Diocese of Lake Malawi

At an emergency meeting held today at St Peter’s Parish, Lilongwe, we the Laity were saddened to hear that elections for a Bishop of the diocese of lake Malawi are to take place on 16th February 2008 at Malosa in Zomba.

The Laity have agreed unanimously that the elections will not take place until their appeal of the Bishop Elect of the Diocese of Lake Malawi issue is taken to a Provincial Court (Canon 26, 5 &6) for review as is stipulated in the Canons.

You may also wish to be advised that the Laity feel that the current situation in the diocese is not conducive to further elections since there are a lot of internal wrangles still unresolved.

Yours in Christ,

Luke Matchiya
Chair: House of Laity

Copies to:
Vicar General, Diocese of Lake Malawi
All Archdeaconaries, Diocese of Lake Malawi
All Parishes, Diocese of Lake Malawi
All Bishops, Province of Central Africa

The rest of the story, received by email from Anglican-Information is below:

Growing confusion
Unsurprisingly, in the Diocese of Lake Malawi, the situation is becoming confused. Some parishes have still not received notification, some of the clergy have read the letters to their congregations and some have chosen not to. The clergy are in an invidious position torn between obedience to the acting Dean and a reluctance to collude in an uncanonical and contrived election.

An example of the dilemma became evident at a meeting held with the diocesan Vicar General on Friday 18th January with laity and archdeacons present. At the meeting the laity insisted that the elections would not go ahead and that the synodically agreed Provincial Court was the correct procedure. The archdeacons were publicly asked why they had connived with Bishop Chama to support calls for a new election, to which their response was “we have been threated by Bishop Chama that if we do not agree we will lose our jobs”.

In the same vein Chama is reported recently to have told a somewhat surprised (at the audacity) congregation in his diocese of Northern Zambia that he intended “to be the next Archbishop of the Province”. This is a gift that is in the hands of the Provincial bishops not Bishop Chama, however ambitious he may be. It should be noted, however, that Chama would be pleased to have his preferred candidate for Lake Malawi, Henry M’baya (a Malawian priest working in South Africa) elected, as it would strengthen his hand in any future archiepiscopal election; M’baya being a strong supporter of Bishop Bernard Malango who in turn has been Chama’s patron.

However, M’baya’s relatives in Malawi have been contacted and are reported to be surprised and disappointed to discover that there is no desire to have him in the Diocese of Lake Malawi, whilst they had been led to believe by Bishop Chama in person that “there is overwhelming support for his candidacy”.

A rival candidate
In the meantime it is reported that Henry M’baya will have a rival candidate as the Rev’d Frank Dzantenge of Mtunthama parish is to proffer himself. Readers will recall that only a month ago Dzantenge had announced that he was leaving the Province and joining dissident, maverick Bishop Nolbert Kunonga’s ‘new Province’ in Zimbabwe. Dzantenge renounced this two weeks later when he sensed that Kunonga had no support in Zimbabwe.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION says that mention of Kunonga and his maverick and uncanonical actions in Zimbabwe forces us to remember what is currently going on there. We remember that Kunonga is an old friend of Bishop Albert Chama, who in turn would do well to stick firmly and clearly to proper canonical actions only lest he invite critical comparison with the former Bishop of Harare - and accusations of hypocrisy.

Electoral ‘fiddle’
In short the outcome, following the election of the new Bishop of Lake Malawi in July 2005, under the regimes of Malango and Chama in Lake Malawi has been one big electoral fiddle – thank God for brave laity and clergy who have stood up to it – pray God that some of the bishops who are deeply dissatisfied with what’s going on might do as well. To allow a new flawed election in February to produce a deeply unpopular candidate whose legitimacy is highly questionable would be to store up trouble for years to come.

Resolution
A resolution to all this rests (as it always has) with the bishops, if they can only remember that they are supposed to be the servants of the people not their oppressors. Old style episcopal authoritarianism will not work in the modern age. The people cannot be ‘whipped into line’ and the remaining Provincial Bishops would do well to remember the sad case of ‘imposed’ Zambian Bishop Leonard Mwemba in 2006 who was forced onto the Diocese of Lake Malawi by them with a letter of appointment that said ‘we are your fathers in God and know what is best’ – Mwemba was embarrassingly chased out as an illegitimate usurper within a few weeks.

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.