Rwanda is a dictatorship and its churches are controlled by the state, generally behind the scenes. Attempting to penetrate the politics of what goes on in the Anglican Church there is difficult to impossible to Americans, who nevertheless think they understand the story. So, when odd events like the arrest of Bishop Samuel Mugisha occur, people are at a loss.
Mugisha was arrested for “…alleged crimes of embezzlement and misuse of funds for personal gain during his tenure.” According to Anglican Ink, “The RIB investigation is focusing on allegations the bishop misused his authority by creating a corporation that provided the building materials used to construct a diocesan building in Musanze City. He is further accused of giving his wife a monopoly on the sale of eggs to diocesan schools, and that these eggs were taken from the diocesan farms without compensation. He is also accused of pastoring his cattle on the diocese’s farmland and treating church property has his own.”
Are his actions any different from Bishops Rucyahana or Mbanda before him? I doubt it. Something else must have been at play here in my opinion. Retired Bishop Alexis Bilindabagabo has stepped into the fray on the side of Mugisha. He wrote the following letter:
Bishop Bilindabagabo Alexis Kigali-Gasabo Kigali, October 8, 2025
To: All Bishops of the Anglican Church of Rwanda
SUBJECT: The Truth Shall Set You Free
Dear Colleagues, Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
On February 19, 2025, I wrote to you a letter containing seven questions, but none of you responded. I understand you are very busy. You were the only ones I wrote to, but surprisingly, my letter ended up reaching many other people, including social media. Once again, I write to you, and this time, feel free to share this letter with anyone you wish. I have also copied it to pastors, because they are the bishops of tomorrow and your advisors of today. If I have written anything that is false or inappropriate, I ask you as my brethren to correct me, and I am ready to repent and ask for forgiveness.
John 8:32: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
You may be wondering why I’m the one writing to you again. There are two reasons:
1. I love the truth, I love transparency, and I hate injustice.
2. As your elder, I want to tell you that not only history, but also God will not forgive us to see what is happening in the church and decide to remain silent.
For those who may not know, I was consecrated as a bishop on February 17, 1991. Among those in Rwanda today, whether active or retired, in our church or other denominations, only two are my seniors in church leadership—Retired Archbishop Kolini Emmanuel (Anglican) and retired Archbishop Nsengiyumva Thadée (Roman Catholic).
Dear Bishops, I respect you, but I am your elder, because when I became a bishop, most of you were not even priests. Therefore, I have seen many things, which I would like to share with you.
Dear Bishops, after asking you those seven questions without receiving any answer, I decided to personally visit Bishop Samuel Mugisha multiple times, including attending his court hearings three times. What I saw and heard shocked and deeply saddened me. Seeing a bishop in handcuffs and having been in prison for nine months makes one think he must have committed a very serious crime. But when you attend the court sessions and hear the charges, you look for a crime and find none, because what he is accused of are ordinary responsibilities that bishops carry out daily, and which happen in all your dioceses. One of the senior bishops confessed to me that if he would dare to go and visit Bishop Sam, he would burst into tears in public and probably his heart would stop from the pain. At that moment I thought that he was just being dramatic… But honestly, even myself, every time I see Sam in handcuffs, the pain in me is so great, almost unbearable.
Now, dear bishops, your colleague has spent nine months in jail for performing duties that you all carry out — and yet you sleep peacefully and go about your work as if nothing has happened. I truly cannot wrap my mind around this. What he did is what you all do, as I will now show you. Why is he the only one in prison for things you all do if they are punishable by the law? Let us go over the accusations brought against your fellow bishop:
First accusation: “Grazing cattle on church land.” You all know this is a common and acceptable practice in our church. Many of you have done it and are still doing it today—grazing, farming, even planting crops on church land is a common practice in the Anglican Church, not only in Rwanda but in the whole region. Why are you not helping the prosecution to understand that this is not a crime but a longstanding practice in our church? It is even more painful to hear that the pastor who accused him also had cattle grazing in that same field. Why was he not imprisoned as well?
Second accusation: “His wife was given a job in a project funded by their American partners and used a diocesan vehicle.” Dear bishops, are your wives and children not often driven in church vehicles? What is new in Sam’s case? Regarding the job—if the donors have no problem with it, who else should? Haven’t some of your wives worked in church-related projects? Has anyone ever raised a complaint that it was inappropriate?
Dear bishops, since you are the ones who appoint senior diocesan staff and remove them, including archdeacons, why should your colleague be imprisoned for doing the same? And why are those who defied him being rewarded? Honestly, bishops, how will you ever regain authority to speak to archdeacons and senior staff again? Or are you about to throw the church into chaos and anarchy whereby there’s no more respect for leadership and offices?
There are more accusations, but all of them fall into the same category—practices that are common and accepted across most churches and all Anglican dioceses.
So, dear bishops, is it not high time you tell the public the truth that such things are not considered crimes in our church but rather good practice? There are some actions that are sins in the church but not crimes under civil law—like drinking alcohol, smoking, or fornication. Similarly, some actions may be crimes under state law but are not sins in the church.
For example, when people go to work for a mayor without paying them, that is a crime. But when church members give offerings or work freely for their pastors, that is commendable and part of our church tradition.
I hope none among you rejoiced or played a role in the imprisonment of your fellow Bishop. If you truly want him released, then write to the Prosecutor’s Office stating that what Bishop Sam is accused of is not a crime according to church customs. You will be surprised at the impact this could have. James says: “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” (James 4:17).
Dear bishops, what is happening to one of you severely undermines the dignity of the episcopal office and casts a shadow over the good work you did when, while laying hands on him, it humiliates a father in front of his children when he has done no wrong—at least nothing we could point to as a justifiable cause.
Let me conclude by asking how the pastors of Shyira Diocese feel when they remain silent while their bishop goes through this ordeal and yet they know very well the truth.
Let me remind them of the words they said in the bishop’s presence during their ordinations:
“Dearly beloved father in God…” (Book of Common Prayer, page 198).
Now your father is imprisoned—you don’t visit him, you don’t ask who imprisoned him or why, and you don’t fast and pray for him? I am not only addressing this to the pastors of Shyira diocese—I am addressing this to all pastors, because all of you, at some point, have stood before a bishop and said those powerful words. Now your father is publicly humiliated, and you feel and say nothing? Let me be clear: I do not support sin or the failure to discipline wrongdoers. Those who know me, especially those I have led, know that I do not condone sin. There are people we have disciplined after first showing them their sins, and we always did so according to the teachings of the Word of God.
Dear bishops, allow me to end this letter by asking you to pray for Bishop Mugisha Samuel to be released from prison as soon as possible.
The apostle Paul said: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:14–15).
And Saint Matthew wrote what Jesus said: “I was naked, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me.” (Matthew 25:34–40).
May the peace of God be with you.
Bishop Bilindabagabo Alexis
Cc: All Anglican Pastors
Mugisha’s wife Jackline posted this on Facebook:
Who are the “some people” in “some people’s personal interests”? I wouldn’t expect an answer.
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