Praise the Lord AME's across he globe.The year 2004 General Conferece is just around the corner.For delegates coming from Africa,Zambia in particular, it will cost USD100 for each delegate to obtain a US visa. Additionally,each delegate as per usual arrangement is asked to raise half the amount of money required for the air ticket which is in the range of US650.The total that each delegate is asked to raise towards the General Conference trip is USD750.As a result, most duly elected delegates fail to raise their portion which in local Zambian currency is K3,675,000.00 which is equivalent to the three years salary of skilled labor.

Somebody help me with answers to the following questions:

1) Does the General Treasurer of the church send round trip tickets to overseas districts or just one way?

2) Is it the policy of the church that each delegate raises half the amount of money towards the purchase of the air ticket?

3) What measures have the Chief Finance Officer and the General Secretary put in place to contact delegates that are in remote areas of Africa so that their air tickets are not used by "ghost" delegates.Most delegates are not communicated to until they hear that they were left behind.

4) How much is reserved and or budgeted for each delegate as pocket money in the 2004 General Conference? I am told that there are alot of variations from district to dostrict and that there is no standard.

There has always been a information and awareness gap in Overseas districts on the above issues and hence my timely qestions.As a result of the above, the number of delegates who attend the General Conference always falls short of the required figure.In most cases non deegates with the ability to raise the required half of the money take up the positions of duly elected delegates who fail to raise the same amount.This money thing has always created problems for many Episcopal fathers in overseas districts.Please those who can and are ready to provide answers to my questions,help!

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2003

Answers

Thank you! Thank you Rev. Mwandu. Indeed the situation was different within the fifteenth. We paid quadrenial travel for the quadrenium a certain amount at the mid year and annual conference per charge. Thus we never had to raise any money to go to the General Conference. During this quadrenium however, things have changed. Though Namibia is a sovereign state delegates from our conference were compelled to pay for their trip up to Cape Town South Africa, to connect to the States. For most of the delegates it was a matter of impossibility, since they could not affored the airfare to Cape Town and back.

However, as a minister in this great zion, and being a person that advocate exposure, I hooked up with Conference WMS President and organized a vehicle for them to drive down to Cape Town, in order for all the delegates to make it to the WMS Convention.

Our Bishop has informed us already that unless one has SAR 3,000.00 South African Rand one should reconsider his/her position of standing as a delegate to the General Conference. I was amazed by these statements of the Bishop and I thought, we are paying quadrenial travel twice every year, there haven't been any circular stating we should pay for our own travel and subsistence from the General Traesurer, I mean where does all these things eminate from?

Well, when one puts up these information, our brothers and sisters on the other side of the ocean perceived it as another cooked up story to discreted our Bishops, while it is not the case these are true and hard facts. Of course our conference has decided to clear these issues with our Bishop at the upcoming annual conference, but there is a greater need for intervention by the general and connectional officers and fortwith to also pass on information by way of a circular if the policy has changed for I read through the discipline and nowhere did I found that a delegate has to pay for his travel and subsistence to the General Conference. Please help us clear the air.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2003

Thank you! Thank you Rev. Mwandu. Indeed the situation was different within the fifteenth. We paid quadrenial travel for the quadrenium a certain amount at the mid year and annual conference per charge. Thus we never had to raise any money to go to the General Conference. During this quadrenium however, things have changed. Though Namibia is a sovereign state delegates from our conference were compelled to pay for their trip up to Cape Town South Africa, to connect to the States. For most of the delegates it was a matter of impossibility, since they could not affored the airfare to Cape Town and back.

However, as a minister in this great zion, and being a person that advocate exposure, I hooked up with Conference WMS President and organized a vehicle for them to drive down to Cape Town, in order for all the delegates to make it to the WMS Convention.

Our Bishop has informed us already that unless one has SAR 3,000.00 South African Rand one should reconsider his/her position of standing as a delegate to the General Conference. I was amazed by these statements of the Bishop and I thought, we are paying quadrenial travel twice every year, there haven't been any circular stating we should pay for our own travel and subsistence from the General Traesurer, I mean where does all these things eminate from?

Well, when one puts up these information, our brothers and sisters on the other side of the ocean perceived it as another cooked up story to discreted our Bishops, while it is not the case these are true and hard facts. Of course our conference has decided to clear these issues with our Bishop at the upcoming annual conference, but there is a greater need for intervention by the general and connectional officers and fortwith to also pass on information by way of a circular if the policy has changed for I read through the discipline and nowhere did I find that a delegate has to pay for his travel and subsistence to the General Conference. Please help us clear the air.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2003

Rev Biwa, thankyou for adding your opinion to this crucial subjet raised by Rev Mwandu.The problem that we AME's on the continent of Africa have is that we do not want to call a spade a spade.My understanding is that,Bishop's must not be feared but should be respected.

For instance, during our most recent South West Zambia conference,our Bishop talked to the pastors and openly discouraged them from electing anyone who had said anything negtive against his leadership on any Episcopal issues.He said that such people would make it real tough for him if given chance to get to the General Conference.As a result, pastors who have a voice of the people were sidelined in preference to who cannot even make an expression for or against.

Worse still, the Bishop did induct those who were elected neither did he shade light on the modalities of travel and how the whole thing is or will be managed.I feel Bishops are accountable to the people and he should not intimidate those with divergent views to an extent of isolating and or caging them.Thank God the quadrennial is here.Funds raised in our districts do not reach the connection but if you look at the expenditure,one would think that Bishops in overseas districts are not funded by the connection.A case is told of a situation in which the Bishop went to a rural conference told off the laity and pastors for being mean,collected the money and left.He shouted at them and said that he would not take any delegate from that conference since the income could not even but a one way air ticket to Indianapolis.We need someone to clarify this travel thing.

Yes our brothers across

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2003