By: Peter Kaphale
Reported incidents of clergy sexual misconduct is on the rise at Kalibu Kwa Yesu Ministries, a new investigation has revealed.
The investigation by this publication has established that individuals involved in such misconduct are the male Kalibu pastors who function in the role as “overseers,” mostly in rural communities. So far all victims identified have been women.
Like many parachurch organizations in Malawi, Kalibu Kwa Yesu Ministires has overseers in the rural areas who are responsible for the effective and proper running of church affairs in a given area. Pastor MacDonald Maso is one such an overseer and his vice is Pastor Perreira who are both based in Nsanje.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, our source said Maso had an affair with Lilian Khambadza, a woman from the mountain area in Nsanje. “It is not longer a secret that the pastor was having this affair so much that people thought Lillian was going to become a third wife.”
At the last minute, Maso broke her heart on claiming that their Pastoral rules prohibit him as a senior pastor marrying in his own church. Lillian took the matter to court as she was seeking legal remedies over the allegation that she was HIV positive and Maso was responsible for ruining her in this manner.
Added the source, “Lilian Khambadza lost the case at court but she took the matter to a “witch doctor.” Maso’s current wife has abandoned her matrimonial home for her own village, where she is reportedly building her own house.
Pastor Maso is also the overseer responsible for distribution of all the village pastor’s salaries in the Nsanje region.
Our source, who was a former Kalibu pastor, reported that all pastors are underpaid and are only receiving MK5,000 a month. These are ordinary village pastors with little edication but they get way under the minimum wage rate and on top of that they are forced to tithe, and that tithe is removed by Pastor Maso before they ever get their pay.
Investigations reveals that whenever Kalibu pastors meet to receive their monthly pay, Maso orders Peter Ntapa, a resident junior Pastor at their center in Nsanje, to close all water taps and he sells cold water and soft drinks on credit to all. When their paycheck comes, he tithes them, deducts his water and soft drinks fee, and then he skims and additional MK2,000 off the original MK5,000
“The tithe, soft drinks and water deductions all come from the MK3,000 they get. At end of the day, a pastor goes home with about MK2,500 after a month’s long work. The leadership obviously doesn’t care much because they all have something on each other and there is almost no one to keep the other in line. What kind of Christianity is this?” questioned the source.
Whereas Pastor Pereira, the second in Command to Maso has plenty of problems of his own. Pereira was caught pants down with a woman in adultery and when she got pregnant, Pereira tried to scheme his way out.
The matter was brought before the chief and elders of the community, but they all defended the “man of God.” The evidence the pregnant woman produced was so strong that they couldn’t deny the truth in her claims.
“She described the Pastor’s bedroom in detail and Mrs Pereira confirmed it, but it wasn’t the description of the bedroom that put the final nail to the coffin but the fact that this lady insisted that several men take Pereira aside and check his waist for he has a live Chithumwa (Witchcraft Muti) in his waist and this thing helps him with his pastoral work,” cited the source
According to the source, Pastor Maso has three wives and, Michael Thomas Howard officiated at least two of his weddings.
As the investigation continues, those who have information and wiling to provide can email: kalibuvictims@gmail.com.
Edited by: Brian Culwell
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.