'Not ours': Government disowns letter to Lutheran Church
Home Affairs minister, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba
What you need to know:
In a letter – addressed to the ELCT and signed by a Mr Komba from the Ministry of Home Affairs – the government threatens the religious body that it will take legal action if it (the church) does not act accordingly within ten days.
Dar es Salaam. Home Affairs minister, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba said the government does not recognize a letter circulating on social media giving a number of directives to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) and the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) over their pastoral messages issued during Easter.
Addressing a press conference at the ministry’s headquarters on Friday morning, Dr Nchemba said circulating reports were meaningless, since they were not directives of the government and the ministry.
In a letter – addressed to the ELCT and signed by a M. Komba from the Ministry of Home Affairs – the government threatens the religious body that it will take legal action if it (the church) does not act accordingly within ten days.
“Religious leaders are not supposed to panic over such reports as they were not blessed by the government. They also should not hesitate to contact the government on legality of the letter,” he said.
He said the government had no problem with religious leaders, noting that clerics should continue with their daily activities.
“The public should be careful with people posting divisive reports on social media. My follow ups on the letter has revealed serious contradiction on the address,” he said.
