The K5 million Morobe Provincial Government allocation for church ministers has been raised to K10 million.
Deputy chairman of Babafi Trust Partnership Program, Ps Setefano Kepe, said based on their yearly submission, K5 million was allocated by MPG, under the leadership of Governor Luther Wenge, while another K5 million will be made available when needed.
Ps Kepe said the feasibility study has been completed, with the current number of spiritual leaders at 2,800. The number is expected to increase as the process is still ongoing.
“That’s for pastors who are shepherding a church,” he clarified.
“That includes all denominations, except those churches that felt that their doctrines say they should not be part of this program.
“So far, we have collected data, created a report and submitted to the chief-of-staff and also the project managers and other heads of department.”
Babafi Trust is now working on creating a payroll system where spiritual leaders can be paid on a monthly basis.
“And they will be paid in batches. We have put pastors in batches because we have to work within the budget. If we put all the pastors in at the same time, we will go beyond the K10 million.”
After Governor Wenge’s announcement late last year, the Babafi Trust office, which has been created to register church workers, was bombarded with lists of people who wanted to be put on the payroll; some were genuine, others were not.
To deal with the issue, the executives set out criteria that included:
- Spiritual leaders must have a congregation
- Street preachers to be categorised under Sabbath keepers and Sunday worshippers, and join respective associations that have been created
- Chairpersons of Sabbath and Sunday street preachers to have an experience of over 25 years on the streets of Lae. This is to help identify their peers.
- Street preachers should be preaching for more than five years
“The 2,800 includes street preachers, all pastors, assistants, associate pastors, bishops, catechists and nuns – all of them included.”
(A woman street preacher, preaching to customers lined up outside the BSP Top Town branch in Lae)