AIC Bomani wages
vicious
offertory fight
By Martin Masai
In the last story carried by The
Anchor on the frequent bouts of drama at the church, we reported: “But sources
says the battle royale lies ahead as church groups eye the cash worshipers
raise every Sunday. Though revenue has gone down considerably, those bend on
dipping their hands into the church coffers are digging in for a big fight so
as to join the gravy train in Bomani.”
Nearly two years later, AIC
Bomani is reeling under a civil war that
literally revolves around proceeds that
committed Christians offer every Sunday. The aftermath of the war has seen the
Bomani DCC emerging as the biggest loser after the Area Church Council upheld a
decision of the Bomani Local Church Council to eject itself from the DCC and
suspending remitting an estimated Sh 200,000 every month to the DCC.
Trouble peaked on July 13 2012
when the DCC Chairman Rev Duncan Musyoka Kiamba dismissed the pastor in charge
of Bomani, Rev Joseph Kitonyi on three grounds after reversing an extension of
his probation by three months.
Notable among them was that “On 12th
December 2011, as pastor in charge of your local reduced the D.C.C.
Budget...”(Sic) What this means is that Rev Kitonyi allegedly reduced, apparently on his
own, Bomani Church contribution to the
DCC . He was also accused of writing to the DCC allegedly instructing them not
to post a new pastor at Bomani AIC, when it was the prerogative of the DCC to
do so.
Kitonyi was also accused jointly with the LCC of declining to meet the
DCC on July 2,2012 and suggesting that the meeting be held on July 28,2012.
Apparently on the same day that the DCC wanted to meet the LCC, the LCC had
earlier scheduled its own meeting and wrote letters the same day. “How did the
LCC find time and be available to meet
while they ne-glected to meet the DCC?”, posed Rev Kiamba.
He explained that the meeting
that the LCC shunned was aimed at soothing their differences and justify why
his probation period was being ex-tended.” But the DCC was sur-prised to note
that you never took the advice (of extension of probation) positively. Instead
you went and pre-sented your letter to the LCC members to fight for you, which
was an incitement, the LCC wrote a letter to the DCC with unspiritual words”,
Rev Kiamba’s lam-en-tations rumbled on.
So what were these ungodly
utterances? When the DCC extended Rev Kitonyi’s probation the LCC shot back in
a scathing protest letter accusing the DCC of failing to confirm Rev Kitonyi so
as to keep him out of the planned DCC elections. Under the church rules a
pastor on probation can not contest elections in the DCC. Bomani DCC was set
for a split and Rev Kitonyi planned to contest against Rev Kilonzo, the current
DCC Vice Chairman. Rev Kilonzo was to move with one half of the DCC to be named
as Katoloni DCC.
It is this assertion that Rev
Kiamba alleged was ungodly language and added that the allegation was false. He
took issue with the LCC’s demand that the dismissal of Rev Kitonyi be
rescinded. He wrote: “The LCC wrote undermining, instructing, directing and
demanding that the DCC reverse the letter with immediate effect, which was a
bad language to be used to the DCC governing Council. You acted against the
scripture Heb.13:17 which underline obedience to those in authority”
Even as Rev Kiamba dismissed Rev
Kitonyi, he did not respond to allegations that the LCC letter raised. The LCC
says the demand that Bomani AIC remits Sh2.86m annually can not be
sustainable.”We met to discuss with the DCC and instead the budget was
increased to Sh 3m and later to Sh 3.2. The LCC Bomani was indebted year in,
year out”, said a three page unflattering letter signed by LCC Secretary Mr
Jonah Kamula.
The matter of the remittances
was so thorny that it had been discussed with the DCC, the Machakos Regional
Church Council (MRCC) and the Area Bishop, and an agreement apparently reached.
Kamula then broached on the
issue of ever exiting [pastors of Bomani and listed Rev Muteto, Pastor Phylis
Kilonzo and Rev Richard Mutiso, a former DCC Chairman. He forgot that the list
is longer and that the church has had a con-tro-ver-sial turnover of pastors,
indicating that either the church was too hot for them, that competition to
remain there was too stiff or that the employer- the DCC- was itself the
problem and could not maintain thinking pastors in the church.
Curiously, the LCC stated that
they were satisfied with Rev Kitonyi and questioned the real motive of the
dismissal, other than a quest to destabilise the church for unstated reasons.
Besides, the LCC brought to the
fore the fact that AIC Bomani had stagnated over the years with much money
being raised with little to see at the church. Critics realize that when it
rains worshippers walk on mud as they head to the church through the unpaved
grounds. There is also a building that has remained in-com-plete for nearly 30
years, hence the reason why the LCC needed to rationalize the monies being sent
to the DCC so that the LCC can do projects within the church to address comfort
concerns that the congregation was quietly raising.
The tone of the letter from the
LCC to the DCC told a bigger story: That they were fed up with interference of
the the DCC in the running of the LCC matters. Worse still, the LCC was fed up
of the proximity that the DCC had with the LCC, because the District Church
Council was a squatter at AIC Bomani Buildings, which made it easy to the DCC
to hold meetings without notice and interfere with church man-agement
sched-ules in the belief that the LCC ought to understand and give way since
the DCC was superior to the LCC.
Said the LCC in the letter....
“The LCC has noted with concern the constant friction and antagonism between
the LCC and the DCC over church administration issues which have had both
financial im-pli-cations and inconveniences. It means that the LCC was
questioning what the DCC was not using the funds it gives monthly to meet its
rental and other recurrent costs. The LCC cites that the DCC calls abrupt
meetings, disrupting LCC programmes, uses LCC staff for DCC errands and
amenities without sharing costs and consultation.
It is in the foregoing that the
LCC decided to withdraw its representation from the DCC, financial remittances
and delink from the DCC oversight. The LCC said Rev Kitonyi would not be
handing over and worse still demanded that the DCC vacates from Bomani AIC offices
within three months.
When the matter was announced to
the English service, the congregation showed solidarity by rising on their
feet. Virtually everyone stood when a question was put on whether the
congregation supported the decision of the LCC. Even then Pastor Samuel Wambua,
whom the DCC wanted to take over from Rev Kitonyi stood and distanced himself
from the decision.
The support was not as
overwhelming in the Swahili Service. What was emerging was that a sharp
division was emerging among the congregation, with Pastor Wambua sticking out
his neck to fight the LCC, drawing his support from the Christian Education
Groups like the Kiswahili Choir, Battalion, Ushirika wa Wanawake and Ushirika
wa Wanaume.
So spirited was Wambua’s fight
that he locked the offices one morning to ensure that Rev Kitonyi and the LCC
would not access the church, leading the LCC to move to court to seek intervention.
