Armed robbers steal K2.4m from Catholic Secretariat
Armed robbers have attacked and stolen K2.4 million from Catholic Secretariat in Lilongwe on the night of Tuesday, a move seen to be aimed at freezing preparation efforts of hosting the Association of Member Episcopal Conference of Eastern Africa (Amacea) in Lilongwe from July 16 to 26.
The thugs tied Fr. Andrew Kaufa and Fr. Malamulo before proceeding to secretary general Fr. George Buleya whom they forced to lead the way to where the safe containing money was being kept.
Inspector General of Police, Lot Dzonz,i rushed to the scene on the morning of Wednesday.
The robbery took place as the Catholic Church in Malawi is preparing for the meeting of AMECEA. The church is struggling to raise funds for the big function which will see various bishops and priests from the region getting into Malawi.
Police have since instituted investigations.
Meanwhile, Aamcea opened a bank account at National Bank of Malawi, Lilongwe Service Centre under the name ‘ECM-Amacea 2014’. The Account Number is 1000211644.
Amacea was founded in 1961 as a coordinating body of the Catholic dioceses in eastern and southern Africa.
It comprises the Episcopal Conferences of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Since 1961, the grouping has been holding plenary assemblies every three years and Malawi has hosted the meetings twice—in 1979 in Zomba and in 1995 in Mangochi.
Amacea’s current chairperson is Malawi’s Archbishop Tarcisius Ziyaye.