Wenge explains cheque
The National, Wednesday February 3rd, 2016
By JUNIOR UKAHA
FORMER Lutheran Church head bishop Giegere Wenge says he is “not crying” over the K5 million retrieved by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill on Monday.
Wenge said the cheque, which was given to him to revive the defunct Lutheran Shipping by O’Neill during the church’s synod in Finschhafen last month, was taken back and given to another faction of the church.
He told a media conference in Lae yesterday that he regretted the Government’s decision but “Lutheran Shipping will continue without government assistance”. “Lutheran Shipping was started by the missionaries,” Wenge said.
“It started with Sunday school money and not money from the Government or money from any other body. It started from money generated within the church purposely to ferry the workmen, like pastors and evangelists and others, to the mission field to do their work.”
Wenge said the disputed cheque was written to the Evangelical Lutheran Church and not Lutheran Shipping. He said he had taken the cheque to Treasury Department in Waigani to change the name from “Lutheran Church” to “Lutheran Shipping” because the money was meant to revive the shipping service.
Wenge said that despite the provincial government giving money to the church over the years, funds had “disappeared without trace” and he was concerned that the same thing could happen to the K5m if it was deposited into the church’s account.
He added that a recent amendment to the church’s constitution had removed the financial powers from the head bishop and given to the administration. “Now, I learn from your newspaper saying that the money is already given to the church,” Wenge said.
“I will not mourn for the K5 million. I’m a pastor and we pastors are not paid by the Government.
“So we will not mourn. The money can go but Lutheran Shipping Propriety Limited will survive.
“This is our conviction.”
He added that “corrupt people”had engineered the change in the church’s constitution to remove the head bishop’s financial powers so they could misuse the funds.