City pastor quizzed over child trafficking
EPHRAIM KASOZI
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/city_pastor_quizzed_over_child_trafficking_78917.shtml
Kampala
Police yesterday instituted an investigation to ascertain the proper destination of close to 1,000 children gathered by city Pastor Elijah Ssemugabi who claimed to offer them free education.
Ms Judith Nabakooba, the police publicist said the police rounded off Pastor Ssemugabi’s church premises in Nsambya West Zone to halt an alleged child trafficking crime. It is however not clear where the children were being trafficked to.
The incident comes just under two years after the same pastor was arrested for allegations of conning parents of millions of shillings in a fake scholarship scheme. In March 2007, Bishop Ssemugabi was accused of soliciting Shs120,000 from parents, on claims that he would get sponsorship for their children. There were also reports of child abuse. “We received reports from the local leadership of the area at Kabalagala Police that children were being loaded on lorry trucks from Nsambya Christian Fellowship Cathedral owned by Bishop Ssemugabi and that they were being taken to an unknown destination,” Ms Nabakooba told Daily Monitor in a telephone interview.
WHAT NEXT? Parents and students stranded at the Christian Faith Centre in Nsambya yesterday. PHOTO BY CHARLES OPOLOT.
The semi-permanent church facility located in a crowded market place accommodated hundreds of parents and their children who by evening were still stranded at the premises while others continued to stream in. Pastor Ssemugabi is said to own several schools within the central region including Munyonyo Bishop Elijah High School, Kabalagala Bishop Elijah High School, Kyengera Alpha and Omega, Bishop Elijah High School Bombo, Nansana Day and Boarding Bishop Elijah High School, and Mukono Bishop Elijah High School.
Ms Nabakooba said the police found a crowd of people comprising parents and their children preparing to be loaded on trucks and asked the pastor to find better transport means. She said the students of both primary and secondary schools were new entrants in the alleged schools. She said the police attached personnel to the various vehicles to find out the right destination of the children and to find out if the schools indeed exist. Pastor Ssemugabi’s church in Nsambya West Zone is located in a slum where sanitation is very poor.
According to Ms Nabakooba, “there was only one toilet for both male and female and all the people were sleeping under one roof.” “We have also involved the Ministry of Education and Sports to ascertain the validity of the schools. These people had stayed in the area for four days and there were threats of crime like theft, defilement and drug abuse. In consultation with the regional police commander and local leaders we agreed the children be transported but we shall follow the matter,” she added.
Meanwhile, residents who spoke to Daily Monitor on condition of anonymity described Bishop Ssemugabi as a conman who has been mistreating the children. At the church compound, one man who identified himself as Hassan Sserwadda claimed that the pastor owes him Shs9.5 million in rent arrears. “He (Pastor) claims that he has schools yet he is deceiving. He only goes around asking to partner with different schools to enable him acquire support from abroad. He also uses it as a trick to get money from people,” a resident of Nsambya said. “There is no way this man can look after these many children in this small place, so he is probably up to some mischief,’’ added another who said the pastor is a “difficult” person.
Most of those who spoke to Daily Monitor declined to be named fearing the pastor could ‘cast a bad spell on them.’
The defiant pastor, however, dismissed the reports as baseless. “Those are detractors who are sabotaging development because I have 19 schools where to take those children,” he told journalists.
The parents who spoke to Daily Monitor intimated that they had paid Shs90,000 for the bed, uniform and registration.
“Bishop told us that after paying that (Shs90,000) no more payments shall be made to the schools,” a parent who declined to be named said. Others said the pastor had helped their children to access education at no cost.
Mr Godfrey Ntale, an LC1 official, said there was rising concern for insecurity. He said the ‘invaders’ claimed they had heard over the radio that the pastor was calling for registration of students to attend free education. “Since 2006, the matters concerning the Bishop and his people are handled by the police and court because he is a difficult man. We are surprised that people are continuing to trust him,” Mr Ntale said. According to sources most of the people camping at the church come from Kabale, Wakiso, Luweero and Mubende districts among other places.
