60 yrs in secret Masonic world: The Master’s tale

When the famous actor Stephen Kanumba died suddenly in April 2012, he left behind a debate among his fans—the debate on whether he was a freemason or not—thanks to the movie Freemasons in which he featured  some years before his death.

Since then, some people have emerged, going public to reveal how they were recruited to join the Freemasons—with a promise to get rich and become more powerful. Not only that but also, some families in Dar es Salaam  have suffered at the hands of conmen, to whom they paid huge amounts of money with a promise to be recruited by the Masonic fraternity.

But one Tanzanian, who rose from just an initiate to the top leadership of Freemasons in Eastern Africa, commanding about 50 Lodges, tells the inside story of how he joined the fraternity as a young man.

At the age of 24, Jayantilal Keshavji Chande famously known as Sir Andy Chande, had already developed an interest to join the Freemasons fraternity, but didn’t know how and where to start.

 From his words, Sir Andy Chande’s interest on Masonic fraternity, was influenced by  the irreproachable conduct and humble demeanour of two of his friends at that time, Bob Campbell Ritchie, a Briton, and John MacLean,  a Scotsman.

But, in spite of those attributes,  the friends had a strange schedule especially during the evening—every Monday evening after work they would attend what he terms ‘mysterious meetings’ at a building close to the Dar es Salaam seafront.

Gradually, Sir Andy’s curiosity about their mysterious evening disappearances  deepened and they finally revealed to him that they were Freemasons.

Pretty soon, I wanted to be one too, writes Sir Andy in his book “ A Knight in Africa: A journey from Bukene”, but since joining  the Masonic fraternity is not by application or recruitment and just by recommendation, there was no short cut.

Sir Andy’s friends introduced him to two Masonic members, Sheikh Mustafa and Jivraj Patel, who at that time had to become his handlers, or brethren, as they are known within the Freemasons community.

It took him two years of waiting for rigorous vetting to establish his suitability and integrity before joining an organisation, which many even here in Tanzania, associate with dark and deep secrets—including rituals and human sacrifice to get wealth and power.

“ As I had clearly expected,” writes Sir Andy, “I was made to wait for almost two years while my suitability as a Mason was assessed. “No one had forewarned me about the pains that were taken in assessing the suitability of all would be initiates, irrespective of their financial circumstances or standing in society,” he writes.

 According to Sir Andy, during that period, his daily activities, inside and outside works, were carefully scrutinised. So too were the activities and opinions of Sir Andy’s immediate family and close friends.

“Though I was the scion of the foremost Indian business families in East Africa, there was no shortcut for me, there was no easy access,” writes Sir Andy, adding that the vetting process took two years before he was initiated to join what many considered a mysterious and dangerous organisation.

Joining Freemasons is neither by recruitment nor application, according to Sir Andy’s book. It appears, contrary to what many believe, Freemason membership is by recommendation from someone who is already a member.

Facing devil worship allegations

As the head of Freemasons in Eastern Africa region, Sir Andy came across a daunting reality when his organisation was accused of devil worship and use of mysterious powers—witchcraft—as a means of influencing decision-making in Kenyan public life.

In 1994, nearly eight years after he was appointed the District Grand Master for the whole of Eastern Africa, he was summoned to appear before the commission of inquiry established by President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, to, among other things, investigate the allegations raised against Freemasons.

“To my concern, but perhaps not to my surprise, I was called to appear before the commission in my capacity as District Grand Master, to testify as a material witness,” he writes in his book, which The Citizen has been exclusively allowed to serialise.  It was alleged that in Kenya, Freemasons, were supporting members of one tribe who were in opposition to the government. Not only that but also it was further claimed that the organisation was involved in devil worship,  whereby its members conduct their mass naked, and giving human sacrifice to consolidate its mysterious power.

This wasn’t the first time, writes Sir Andy, that the allegations of Masonic conspiracy in politics had arisen.  “Few can forget the P2 scandal in Italy, when the unsanctioned activities of the misguided few brought shame on the hitherto apolitical image of Masonic lodges worldwide, ” he writes.

According to Sir Andy, although he didn’t receive a copy of the final report of the commission and none was made public, he and his organisation were cleared of any wrong doing.

 “The fact that the allegations were made against the Masonic Order in Kenya were a blessing in disguise, providing opportunity to restate in public and in private the facts that in Freemasonry, your politics are your private business, as is your religion, and they aren’t matters for discussion, still less action, within your lodge,” Sir Andy further writes.

 However, he writes, in Tanzania, he never faced similar political problems with the government even at the height of African socialist fervour in the heady days after the Arusha declaration; so was  the case in Uganda and Seychelles.

 According to Sir Andy, this was because Mwalimu (JK Nyerere) had looked quite closely into the background of the voluntary organisations operating in Tanzania at the time of independence, and had reached the conclusion that all of them, to a greater or lesser degree, were operating in  a philanthropic manner.

 Is Freemasons a mysterious organisation?

 According to Sir Andy, the Freemasons association  sprang up during the Second World War, when the Masonic brethren tried to protect their members in France, Italy, and Germany against actions by axis of powers.

“Since then, we have gone totally public and have always endeavoured to dispel suspicion, and to show that ours is an institution that takes a good man and seeks to make him better…unfortunately, not everyone has been convinced by this line of argument.

 Sir Andy  concludes: Freemasonry is a life to be lived and not formality to be observed; it is a life grounded in religion, organised in morality, mellowed by good fellowship, humanised in charity and dedicated to serve…the  teachings of Freemasonry are not for today, but forever. It’s a force for good and stability and it teaches its members tolerance, dignity, and respect for the individual.

 This is a tale from Sir Andy, a man who has spent sixty years inside Freemasonry—rising from first degree to the highest ranks, the Grand Master of Eastern Africa and still willing to share his story, though not everything, with the public.

 However, as Sir Andy put it, Freemasonry is,  in the eyes of Western media,,   still a  mysterious organisation. In The Lost Symbol, the latest novel by Dan Brown, the mysterious magic power associated by Freemasons is deepened.