[ACNS, by Gavin Drake] The Archbishop of Central Africa, Albert Chama, has been elected as the new chair of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (Capa). He will be assisted by the new vice-chair, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali from Uganda. Capa brings together all 12 Anglican Provinces in Africa as well as the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa from the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East to “coordinate and articulate issues affecting the Church and communities across the region.”

Archbishop Albert Chama, who also serves as Bishop of Northern Zambia, became the Primate of Central Africa in 2011. His Province includes Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Earlier this year he hosted the Anglican Consultative Council as they met in Lusaka’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Archbishop Chama chairs the board of the Anglican Alliance.

Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, who is also the Bishop of Kampala, was installed as Primate of Uganda in 2012. In recent years he oversaw the redevelopment of the Anglican shrine and a museum dedicated to the memory of the Martyrs in Namugongo; and last year welcomed Pope Francis to the centre. And he persuaded the country’s President Yoweri Museveni to declare an annual national holiday on the day that the country’s former Archbishop, Janani Luwum, is remembered. Archbishop Luwum was assassinated in 1977.

This week’s elections of Archbishops Chama and Ntagali took place this week during a meeting of Capa in Kigali, Rwanda.

Capa was founded in 1979 in Chilema, Malawi, by the Anglican Primates of Africa. It reaches out to individuals, communities and groups through more than 40 million dedicated Church members in the 25 African countries with an Anglican presence. Capa is headed by a council for the smooth running of the Provinces’ activities. Its secretariat, headed by general secretary Canon Grace Kaiso, is based in Nairobi, Kenya.