Today, October 8, an interim leadership of the Association of the Pentecostal Churches of Rwanda (ADEPR) will take over from the outgoing team that came in just over two years ago, the latter having been dismissed by the regulator last week. The Rwanda Governance Board said it had been forced to dissolve ADEPR’s board of directors, executive bureau and conflict resolution committee after they failed to address a series of conflicts and inefficiencies that threatened the unity of members. That this is the second interim committee to take charge at the Kimihurura-based 2-million-member umbrella church in just over two years is telling. As expected, the new interim team will be given a specific mandate and clear targets, with the view to paving the way for the next generation of substantive leadership. Will members sit back until the next leaders also fail? Do they even understand what lies behind these repeated failings? And what are they doing to help reverse the trend? Praying is good but it’s not enough. Like faith, prayer that is not accompanied by action is futile. One of the challenges that has been identified by those in the know is that ADEPR’s organisational and leadership structure does not allow for proper checks and balances, accountability, and governance oversight. This has resulted into a situation where successive leaders became so powerful and untouchable they did whatever they pleased – often with impunity. The consequences have been dire, with members of the faith-based organisation losing billions in Rwandan Francs, including money pooled together by individual faithful for business. Indeed, ADEPR has for long been marred by cases of gross abuse of office, mismanagement and embezzlement, neglect, perpetual conflict between different leadership organs, among others. It is believed that only a handful of these cases have ended up in courts of law. For an organisation whose cardinal mission is to preach the gospel and impact lives, this state of affairs does not only erode members’ and public trust in spiritual leaders and faith-based organisations, in general, but it also deprives citizens of important contributions toward their wellbeing. While the leaders who have exploited these loopholes to line their pockets at the expense of church members must not be allowed to get off scot-free, it is incredibly essential that the church undertakes genuine far-reaching reforms that promote good governance, accountability and efficiency. But this can only be done with members’ involvement. It’s primarily their responsibility to ensure that the legal framework and leadership structures are in such a way that those in positions of responsibility serve the people, not themselves. And, members should be able to retain powers to instigate change should those entrusted with leadership do otherwise.
