Bishop Makundi faces more hurdles

by Valentine Marc Nkwame

The ongoing controversy shrouding the Saint James Anglican Parish in Kaloleni has now taken a new turn. Last Sunday, the parish members conducted an eight hour demonstration opposing the move by the Anglican Diocese Bishop, Simon Makundi, to appoint a "new" pastor for the parish.

This came after the bishop reportedly succumbed to pressure from local authorities and opened the church building, whose closure he had ordered on the 29^th of August.

The bishop also begged for forgiveness from the angry parishioners regarding the "Condom" saying that it would no longer be an issue.

However, just when the brethren were about to calm down, the bishop reminded them that, from now henceforth, the parish will be under a new pastor, Canon Paul Mtowe.

This evoked more angry outburst from St. James members who told him point blank that, they wanted back their own two pastors: Andrew Kajembe and Everist Laizer whom the Bishop had relieved them of their duties at the church.

Bishop Makundi , however, went to the parish last Sunday, intending to introduce the new pastor, but his efforts ended in vain when the Church multitude booed him down.

Then for over eight hours non stop, the Parish members started to sing and dance around the Church building before staging a live music extravaganza inside the church thus drowning any attempt from the bishop to conduct a Sunday mass.

Bishop Makundi, decided to call the assistance of the Police and KK Security Guards. The police arrived in a Land Rover vehicles with number plates STH 1155 and TZP 7807 respectively.

The police officers however kept at bay, as the singing and dancing went on with zest inside the church building. The KK Security guards, who have been keeping watch on the church since the bishop’s closure order, got reinforcement from their fellow guards who also arrived at the church in a Nissan vehicle with number plates T870 AAE.

"We are not going to cause any chaos or beat him up", some brethren told the police. "We are simply intending to sing the bishop out of the church!"

But the bishop wasn’t about to be sung out easily, he stayed put as the church members sang some "tongue-in-cheek" Christian choruses, topped with mock kicks aimed in his direction.

The singing started at 8.00 a.m and climaxed with a long supplication prayer at about 2.45pm. The prayer was led by Paul Mahiza, the Chairman of the Church youths department.

"This is not how we conduct Anglican church services", said Bishop Makundi after the brethren finished their "mass" and deserted him alone with his entourage of nine people in the church. "I don’t know where that came from".

"They were quite insolent towards the bishop, which is very bad", added Canon Mtowe, who had just received his share of impolite words after he tried to take a picture of the church members as they filed out of the building.

The brethren however didn’t go home, they kept standing outside the church as the bishop conducted his own mass which had an audience of a few individuals.

Asked what was going to be the fate of both Pastor Kajembe and his assistant, Pastor Laizer, Bishop Makundi replied that "It will be decided later".

"As a bishop, it is my duty to appoint, transfer or sack any pastor !" he maintained.

But St. James parishioners argue that, the "new" pastor being "forced"onto them by the bishop, is actually a "retired" church leader, who used to be the priest of St. Magreth Anglican Parish of Moshi before retiring to remain a diocesan pastor at the main Christ Church Cathedral.

"If we needed an old pastor", said the parishioners, "Then it would have been better to bring back Pastor Mtangoo!"

Canon Elisha Mtangoo was the resident pastor at St. James, before he retired in 2000 and went back to Dodoma.

About 450 St. James members turned up for last Sunday mass. "We were however afraid to bring our children", said William Nyahongo a parishioner who thought chaos would have reigned.

Meanwhile, as we were going to press, members of the controversial St. James Anglican Parish were in the process of filing a lawsuit against their bishop on a number of complaints.

Last modified: September 11, 2003.
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