The Anglican Church in Kenya has announced it could have up to five archbishops and one primate in two years if changes proposed by a church committee get the go ahead.

The Church is the second largest denomination in Kenya with 5 million members. Plans for the coming years also include the appointment of two new bishops for mission work in reforms some commentators regard as an attempt to work through numerous schisms that have plagued the Church since the election of the archbishop.

The Church’s leadership has struggled to keep control in the face of squabbles over the creation of new dioceses, notably Kajiado and Katakwa, over ethnicity, politics and personalities within the Church.

A five-man committee chaired by Bungoma Bishop Eliud Wabukhala, chairman of the National Council of Churches in Kenya, has outlined several reforms, including the decision to reorganise twenty-nine dioceses into larger regional archdioceses. In an attempt to reconnect with communities with only loose ties to the Church, new bishops are to be sent into areas where the Church’s influence has been weakened.

“These will be bishops without judicial authority or physical office and will be working under a senior bishop,” said Bishop Wabukhala.

Particular areas of focus for the missionary bishops are parts of North Eastern and Eastern Province, where local dioceses in more remote areas are struggling to serve members’ needs.

The reforms are still in the consultation process, with Wabukhala saying that the changes would only be implemented with the support of the church base. If the church base consents to the reforms, these will then be ratified by the Provincial Synod, the Church’s parliament.

“We are now [engaging] the laity and clergy at the grassroots level to hear their views,” said Wabukhala.

Plans are also going ahead to decentralise the Church. Wabukhala said: “With a focused stewardship, the church will be spiritually and financially healthier.”

The reforms have been in the pipeline for decades now, being originally initiated by former Maseno South Bishop Henry Okullu in the 1980s. The reforms were given a new lease of life by Dr Wabukhala on Okullu’s death in 1999.