Auxiliary bishop of the Bukoba Catholic archdiocese Methodius Kilani
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Bishop Kilaini becomes the first leader of the Catholic Church to come out publicly two days after Dr Slaa announced he was quitting politics
Bishop Kilaini becomes the first leader of the Catholic Church to come out publicly two days after Dr Slaa announced on television he was quitting politics and accused the bishops of accepting millions of shillings from one of the presidential candidates.
He said Dr Slaa, being former secretary of the Tanzania Episcopal Centre (TEC) and knowing how the church operates, ought not to have uttered such “groundless statements.”
Speaking in an exclusive interview in Bukoba, Bishop Kilaini said bishops were incorruptible and that the Catholic Church was not aligned with any political parties or presidential candidates, saying Dr Slaa’s accusation was perhaps a slip of the tongue.
“Politicians are contributors and Lowassa is a good contributor in various church events and you cannot accuse them of being bought for that. The church stands for morals and pray for peace in our nation,” said bishop Kilaini.
Bishop Kilaini added that such utterings were uncalled for and could potentially cause confusion in the society, warning on the dangers of religious being used as a tool for mudslinging or clearing candidates in the forthcoming General Election.
He referred to the situation of the Zanzibar post-election violence of 2002 that forced some people to flee the country where religious leaders had to convene and issued a joint statement to warn against using religion in political activism.
“Such utterings are bad and can cause great confusion in the society by mixing up religion and politics. We should not let religion to be used in election debates. Catholic bishops are incorruptible and have already shown that,” said the bishop.
He advised Tanzanians to attend election campaign rallied and listen to policies of the candidates, saying abusive language and mudslinging will frustrate the electoral process and make people lose interest with this crucial election time.
