Elections end Pentecostal church wrangles

The Pentecostal Church of Rwanda (ADEPR) on Sunday finally installed a new head, Pastor, Jean Sibomana, replacing Pastor Samuel Usabwimana as the church’s interim legal representative.Pentecostal faithful in the last few months witnessed internal wrangles as well as investigations into possible genocide ideologies amongst its leaders that threatened to split the church.Usabwimana, who had initially turned down persistent calls to step down, finally gave in after mediation by Sheik Saleh Habimana, the overseer of Political parties, NGOs and Faith based Organisations at the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB).“Usabwimana fell short below the requirements needed to head a faith based organisation as stipulated by the law governing faith based organisations, and after reviewing his position, we requested the church’s representative to get a new leader who will be recognised by other religions as well as the government,” Habimana who is a former Mufti of Rwanda, said in an interview with The New Times.“When the church’s Executive Committee met on Saturday and unanimously appointed Sibomana as the new Legal Representative, we blessed the motion and requested Usabwimana to accept the decision and work together with the new head to clean the image of the church”.However, when The New Times earlier visited the ADEPR headquarters in Kimihurura, the premises had been sealed off and protected by security guards. It was found out that Usabwimana was unwilling to vacate and had denied the new leadership to take over.“Although I and my team are officially the new leaders, we were denied access to the offices in the morning hours, but thanks to the intervention of RGB we came to an agreement and settled the feud,” Sibomana said at the handover later in the day attended by over 20 pastors.“We now want to put the past behind us and restore the integrity of our church. We will not steer clear of the former leaders but rather hope to work and get advice from them in order to keep the church together.”“I am totally committed to protecting the image of the church and as the Bible tells us, all authority comes from God. I may not serve as the Legal Representative but serve in many other capacities through which the church can benefit. I bless the new leadership headed by Sibomana and accept the change,” Usabwimana told the meeting.The interim leadership has a period of up to six months to put the church back on track after which new leaders will be appointed by the Executive Committee.

National

Elections end Pentecostal church wrangles