MALAWI: Catholics Not Happy to Have Episcopal Conference in NGO Status
Sam Kalimba
No sooner had the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) released a press statement on the arrest of the Anti-Corruption Bureau Czar, Ms. Martha Chizuma than the warning letter from the Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Authority (NGORA) circulated in the social media platforms and in the main stream media houses across the country suggesting that the ECM did not comply with Non-Governmental Organisations Act.
Most commentators in social media platforms were Catholics of good standing who expressed their displeasure to associating ECM with non-governmental organizations and wondered why the letter was in circulation.
The letter dated 6th December, 2022 and signed by the Registrar of NGOs Mr. Voice Mhone was addressed to the Chairman of Trustees of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, Most Rev. Thomas Msusa, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre in the ecclesiastical province of Blantyre.
The letter titled “warning for non-compliance with non-governmental organizations act (CAP 5:05)” reads in part: “We refer to the subject-matter above and write to state Episcopal Conference of Malawi has failed to comply with section 22 of the Non-Governmental Organizations Act (CAP 5:05) by not filing the following mandatory information and documents for 2021: audited financial statements; annual reports outlining the activities undertaken in 2021; annual return reflecting details of your trustees, directors and auditors; and source of funding”.
The letter continued, “It is against this failure to comply with the Law that you are hereby issued with a warning”.
It is the content of this letter that left most Catholics amazed as to how this could be possible by ECM. Later, a certificate issued by the NGO Regulatory Authority to ECM in the year 2021 circulated in the social media with the content that the Bishops were exemption from conforming to all the requirements of registering to operate in Malawi as an NGO.
