Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Blantyre Synod, through its disciplinary committee, Thursday called to a disciplinary hearing some of its reverends who held prayers with former State president Peter Mutharika.
In February this year, 71 clerics under Blantyre Synod conducted a prayer session at Mutharika’s Page House in Mangochi District.
The meeting seems to have not gone down well with the synod authorities, who Thursday invited chairperson for the organising committee for the trip, Reverend Chikondi Banda, to a hearing.
Banda was accompanied by five other pastors who testified during the hearing.
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Speaking after appearing before the committee, Banda said they were questioned about how they conducted themselves during the prayers.
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“Like myself, I was charged with three counts. One is that I shouted ‘DPP woyee’ at the meeting. The second one was that I uttered words in an audio clip that attacked synod management and the third one was that I conducted myself in an unwanted way during the prayers. I have denied all the charges,” Banda said.
He said the committee wanted to hear from him on why he acted in that way.
“We have responded well and we are just waiting for a verdict on this. I do not know why they have targeted me, maybe because I [allegedly] attacked them in the audio. They are not specifically against us going to Page House but only [questioning us] on how we conducted ourselves. I do not know why they are separating the issues,” Banda said.
Another cleric, Reverend Kingsley Maulana from Matope CCAP Church under Mangochi Presbytery, said they had given their side of the story on the matter.
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“We came here as witnesses for our colleague. He had denied the charges and we have all testified on that. We went there for prayers only. Dr Mutharika’s family is our member and we went to our fellow Christians,” Maulana said.
Chairperson for the disciplinary committee, Reverend Joseph Thipa, confirmed the development.
“Yes, we called them for a hearing and we have heard from them. We just wait to submit a report to our superiors, who will come up with a final decision on the matter,” he said.
During the prayers, some pastors pledged to support Mutharika in his presidential comeback bid.
Some clerics were seen in video clips lamenting current economic problems, claiming that things are now worse than they were during the previous administration.
However, the Blantyre Synod leadership distanced itself from the prayers, saying sentiments that were raised there did not reflect views of the synod.
The synod, through a letter, also said it did not sanction the meeting.
“The synod would like to publicly confirm it did not sanction, approve or endorse the visit. The ministers concerned did so in their individual capacity,” the letter reads.
Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Shadric Namalomba described the development as regrettable.
“This is an infringement of the right to association. People should not be targeted because they have expressingly demonstrated their right to association. Let us not comment much at this stage but this is very unfortunate for a church to take this direction,” he said.
