Prophetess claims to have acted on God’s instructions

 In pursuit of a miracle, Abel Manyamula got more than he bargained for.

The 70-year-old, who is confined to a wheelchair, was allegedly coerced by prophetess Jessie Window on April 16 this year to attend overnight intercessory prayers.

Abel, from Mwandama Village, Traditional Authority Ntchema in Chiradzulu District, has lived with a disability since he was nine years old. He was in Standard Two at the time.

But in looking for the miracle last week, he allegedly had his legs forcibly stretched by Window’s two intercessors as they were repeatedly summoning the Holy Spirit.

The experience led Abel to be admitted to Chiradzulu District Hospital for five days from April 17.

The prophet is currently remanded at Blantyre Prison together with the intercessors, Veronica Wyson, 32, and Martha Wyson, 30.

But in an interview on Friday, Window claimed to have been directed by God.

Abel’s brother Joseph Manyamula alleged in an interview with Nation on Sunday that Window went to the village on April 16 to pray for people.

“She learned about my brother [Abel] at 3 pm. She came home and prayed for him. She then invited him for overnight prayers to make my brother walk again,” he narrated.

Joseph claimed that Abel, who before the ‘healing miracles,’ was able to wheel himself around, agreed to attend the overnight prayers.

His elder sister went with him, but returned alone after the prophetess assured her that Abel was in safe hands.

According to Joseph, the overnight prayers commenced peacefully until it was time for healing.

He claimed that when Abel’s turn came, the prophetess prayed for him, but he never got up from his wheelchair.

He said: “At about midnight, she ordered two of her intercessors to get Abel from his wheelchair and stretch his legs. In the process, they became sore.”

Joseph alleged that Window later bolted upon realising the gravity of the situation.

He claimed the burden of returning Abel was left with the intercessors who carried him.

Joseph alleged that relations quizzed the followers about what happened and informed the chief who suggested that Abel be taken to the hospital.

“We were told he suffered nerve damage. He also had wounds on his legs,” he said.

After being discharged, Abel was told to return to the hospital for check-up on Thursday, but he failed because they did not have transport fare.

But Window, in an interview   claimed that Abel told the intercessors he felt a tingling sensation in his legs and needed somebody to stretch his legs.

“And I felt I had to do what was right and that is when the intercessors stretched his legs,” she said.

Window, who claimed to have healed numerous people in the past, maintained she acted on God’s instructions.

When asked about her age, she said she only remembers that she was a teenager when former president Hastings Kamuzu Banda returned to Malawi from overseas in 1958.

According to Window, she commutes from Nsanje to Blantyre whenever she is called by her followers to conduct prayers.

Seemingly calm and jovial, she maintained she healed Abel despite his hospitalisation.

Window hopes to meet him in person to give him a ‘healing handshake’.

She also insisted that she was around the place where the overnight was held, contrary to what Abel’s family claims that she had bolted.

According to South East Police Region spokesperson Edward Kabango, Window will appear in court on May 6.