Govt rights body takes on Kayanja sodomy case
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3668&Itemid=59
Written by Michael Mubangizi
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 16:26
The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has commenced parallel investigations into allegations of sodomy against Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre.
A committee comprising three Commissioners; Constantine Karusoke, former Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons Service Joseph Etima, and Agaba Maguru has been formed to investigate the matter.
The Observer has been told that all concerned parties in the allegations—including the accused and his accusers - have been summoned to appear before the commission.
The commission’s chairman, Meddie Kagwa, confirmed that investigations had started. “We received a formal complaint from [lawyer] Andrew Kasirye and we have since taken on the investigations,” he said.
He said Kasirye lodged a complaint with the Commission, saying Police had “mishandled” investigations into his client’s case.
Kaggwa, however, declined to divulge the scope of their investigations.
“It is prejudicial to discuss that but we shall talk to whoever will be available to offer useful information to the investigations,” Kaggwa said.
The Commission has already heard from Pastor Solomon Male, one of the pastors who say they counselled young men who claim to have been sexually abused by Pastor Kayanja.
Samson Mukisa, David Mukalazi, Robinson Matovu, James Ntwatwa, Ronnie Mutebi and Akansimwe Brian recently claimed that they had been sodomised by Kayanja. Mukisa and Matovu have since retracted their claims under mysterious circumstances. The claims are currently a subject of Police investigations.
“I told them how our case has been mishandled, the harassment and arrests that [the] sodomy victims have faced at Police hands,” Male said.
Some people, including President Museveni, have recently expressed displeasure in the way Police handled the investigation. This was after the Director of CID, Edward Ochom, turned the heat against the accusers and declared Kayanja innocent.
Asked if it was alright for the Commission to carry out parallel investigations into a case that is being handled by the Police, Kaggwa said, “it is okay as long as the issue involved is of a human rights nature.”
He could not however say when the Commission would come up with its findings. “I can’t tell when it will be concluded, but we want it to end as soon as possible.”
He said it was too early to tell the likely penalties because the investigation team was yet to hear from all sides.
“Our work is to listen to complaints, if we find it fit we forward them to a tribunal which if convinced about the merits of the case orders for compensation. He also said the Commission can reconcile the parties if they so wish.
Article 53 of the Constitution gives the Uganda Human Rights Commission powers of a court to summon or question any person in respect of any matter it’s investigating. It can also order for compensation of victims or any other legal remedy.
Meanwhile, Pastor Kayanja has threatened to sue Stephen Langa, the Executive Director Family Life Network, for what he calls defamation.
Through his lawyers; Katende, Ssempebwa and Co Advocates, Kayanja has written to Langa giving him one week to retract his statement and apologise for the comments he made in our story, ‘KPC’s Pastor Langa Fuels Kayanja Sodomy Allegations’ (June 1-3, 2009).
In the article, Langa, a counsellor, told The Observer that he wasn’t surprised about the allegations against Kayanja because he had counselled men who claimed to have been sodomised by the pastor as early as the 1990s.
Kayanja’s “notice of intention to sue” however, offers Langa out of court settlement if he apologises.
Langa, however, told us after receiving the letter that his remarks were made in good faith and he stands by them.
The same lawyers had earlier accused The Observer of fighting other people’s wars.
A lawyer with the firm, contacted The Observer and said that the allegations against Kayanja were a hate campaign orchestrated by the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches. He said this body was hitting at Kayanja because he had refused to join it.
He claimed that this organisation has been using Pastors Michael Kyazze and Solomon Male to malign Kayanja. Ironically, Male has in the past been disowned by the same group.
The lawyer also said that this fellowship wanted to frustrate Kayanja’s plans to host a renowned American evangelist, Benny Hinn.
Benny Hinn, a senior Pastor of World Healing Church International based in Irving Texas, will be in the country this weekend for a two-day visit dubbed “Fire Conference.” It will be hosted by Kayanja at his Rubaga Miracle Centre between June 5-6.
