The Presidency of the Government has hosted this Wednesday a meeting convened by the Prime Minister of the Government with representatives of the opposing parties within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with the aim of knowing the origin and scope of the existing differences and seeking ways of solution that will preserve the unity of the Church and guarantee the normal functioning of its educational centers.
The Government’s intervention responds to the concern generated by a dispute that, initially limited to the internal sphere of the religious organization, has acquired a social dimension in the face of the possibility that its consequences may affect the functioning of Adventist schools, especially when the beginning of the new academic year approaches.
During the opening of the meeting, the Prime Minister stressed that the Adventist Church carries out an important social and educational work in the country, so the internal differences among its leaders should not have an impact on the students. In this sense, he recalled that educational centers linked to the Church serve more than 5,000 students throughout the country.
“The government cannot allow students to be affected by the personal or internal differences of Church leaders,” said the Prime Minister, who urged the parties, at the beginning of the meeting, to put the interests of minors and the operation of educational centers before any other consideration.
During the meeting, the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice presented the background of the file, whose institutional monitoring dates back to 2023, when the department received a complaint made by one of the parties to the conflict.
The ministry’s presentation made it possible to contextualize the differences between the structure of the Church in Equatorial Guinea and certain higher levels of the organization, as well as the various attempts at dialogue and conciliation promoted in recent years without a definitive agreement having been reached to date.
The participating parties subsequently presented their respective positions. While one of them defended that the administrative and financial procedures established within the Church are carried out in accordance with its statutes and internal rules, the other maintained its complaints about alleged administrative and financial irregularities, as well as about certain actions of the higher structures.
Among the issues raised during the meeting were also accusations related to alleged dynamics of division of an ethnic or tribal nature within the organization. In this regard, the different positions were heard by the authorities, within the framework of the Government’s willingness to understand the origin and scope of the controversy.
After listening to the parties, the Prime Minister made a strong appeal for reconciliation and unity, recalling that all participants are part of the same Church and the same country.
The Prime Minister of the Government urged to abandon confrontational positions and public disqualifications, and asked those responsible for the Church to work for a solution that will allow coexistence to be restored and the unity of the organization to be strengthened.
In this context, he announced the need to convene the heads of the higher structures of the Adventist Church, both in the union and in the division, to hold a direct meeting with the Presidency of the Government in the near future and address the issues raised.
The Prime Minister also insisted that the situation of the educational centers must be left aside from internal differences and asked the parties to reach an agreement that will guarantee the normal start and development of the next school year.
The Government has warned that, in the event that the parties fail to reach an understanding to ensure the operation of the centres, it will adopt the appropriate measures to safeguard the right of students to education and prevent the internal dispute from affecting thousands of students.
The meeting concluded with the commitment to continue working for a negotiated and consensual solution, under the premise that reconciliation, national unity and the protection of the right to education must prevail over any internal differences.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Equatorial Guinea: Official Web Page of the Government.
