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Preacher denies telling 55-year-oldwoman to lie about
her HIV status
By Michael Mubangizi
WEEKLY OBSERVER
For years Grace Kashemeire, 55, told Christians that Pastor
Imelda Namutebi Kula had cured her of HIV/AIDS by praying
for her.
Some HIV-positive people believed her and went on their
knees in prayer to get healed too. For several, this meant
abandoning their life-saving anti-retroviral treatment,
resulting in deaths.
Now Kashemeire says it was all a lie! She claims that it
was Namutebi who, in 1999, asked her to declare that her
(Namutebi’s) prayers had cured her of HIV/AIDS. As
a reward, Kashemeire was allegedly promised a monthly stipend
of Shs 350,000 and protection.
Namutebi, head of the popular Liberty Worship Centre at
Lugala, in Kampala’s Lubaga Division, vehemently denies
this allegation.
The claim will nevertheless raise more questions about
increasing reports that some pastors exploit their flock
in the name of God.
A mother of four, Kashemeire says she has lost three husbands
to HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. She is pleading for forgiveness
from people who were misled by her story, but says many
of them have since died.
She reckons many more people may have been misled as her
testimonies used to appear on television.
Since 2003, Namutebi has been running a Liberty Worship
Centre Programme on WBS.
It features the service and her sermon every Saturday, 7:05-7:30a.m.
Kashemeire also claims that Namutebi often brought in guests
from abroad who photographed and interviewed her about her
healing for dissemination to their audiences in Europe and
America.
“Twakola nga bukozi diilu ne Pastor Namutebi n’agamba
nti ngambe abantu nti yansabira ne mpona siriimu,”
Kashemeire said in Luganda, meaning - I just made a deal
with Pastor Namutebi; she told me to always testify that
she prayed for me and I got healed of HIV/AIDS.
But Namutebi dismisses Kashemeire’s story as a fabrication.
When contacted on her mobile phone, a voice on the other
side agreed that it was Namutebi speaking only to claim
it was not her, after this writer started asking about Kashemeire.
“She is telling you lies and you will be sued, let
me give you her lawyer’s number,” said the voice
that was now claiming to be Namutebi’s secretary before
hanging up.
When this writer called again, a man answered the call and
passed on Kampala lawyer Kituuma Magala’s phone contact.
Magala of Kituuma Magala & Company Advocates told this
writer in an interview that Kashemeire was trying to use
this newspaper.
“She (Kashemeire) is using you, you are not the first
paper she has gone to alleging all sorts of things against
the pastor,” he said.
He added that Kashemeire had reported Namutebi to Police
and that the case had been dismissed by the Director of
the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID).
He also said that Bukedde newspaper was in court over the
same story, while UBC TV and radios; Simba, Sapientia and
CBS had all been warned for running Kashemeire’s story.
“When we put a notice [to sue them] they either apologised
or stopped running the programmes,” he said.
Commenting on Kashemeire’s testimonies, Magala said
that they are voluntary as people give them at their own
volition.
The Weekly Observer has also established that two men said
to be working at Namutebi’s Church are currently facing
assault charges in Mwanga 11 Road Magistrates Court, after
they allegedly beat up Kashemeire’s 11-year-old daughter,
Christine Mirembe, on December 8, 2006.
Kashemeire alleges that the accused were sent by Namutebi
but Magala declined to discuss the case, pointing out that
it was before court.
Further attempts to talk to Pastor Namutebi failed as a
man who occasionally picked her phone kept telling this
writer he was calling a wrong number.
Genesis
Kashemeire, now a campaigner against what she sees as false
teachings by some pastors, told The Weekly Observer that
she got infected with HIV in 1985 and has since lost three
husbands to AIDS-related illnesses.
She met Namutebi at World Trumpet Mission- (formerly on
William Street, now on Nabukeera House on Nakivubo Road)
where the flamboyant pastor regularly preached in 1999.
During a lunch-hour prayer meeting on December 31, 1999,
Kashemeire testified by thanking God for keeping her alive,
in good health, despite having HIV/AIDS and losing three
husbands.
Three days later, on January 3, 2000, Namutebi reportedly
met Kashemeire at California Church on Luwum Street, where
she claims they agreed on Kashemeire’s healing testimony.
Kashemeire says that she was initially hesitant to lie but
was reportedly reassured by Namutebi. Among other conditions,
she was to give the testimony only in Namutebi’s church.
Kashemeire’s first testimony that day at California
Church during the lunch-hour prayer meeting was terrifying.
Nagenda nga ntidde, nga manyi nti bagenda kunzita bussi,”
she said, meaning she was scared and afraid as she gave
the testimony.
After her account, Kashemeire says, Namutebi reportedly
invited worshippers with other ailments to bring money and
be prayed for in return for instant healing.
At the preacher’s request, Kashemeire says, people
gave her clothes, blankets and bed sheets, while Namutebi
herself gave her Shs 50,000.
Her testimony was to be repeated for seven years during
church services and to Namutebi’s foreign guests who
often gave Kashemeire money for her upkeep.
But in April last year, Namutebi and Kashemeire parted company.
Broken promises
The Namutebi-Kashemeire divorce was mainly rooted in unfulfilled
promises, suspicion and the assault of her daughter, according
to Kashemeire.
Besides the Shs 50,000, Kashemeire says she didn’t
get the promised Shs 350,000. Yet she was also working at
the church as a compound cleaner and motor-vehicle security
guard at the church between January 2000 and April 2007.
Kashemeire in fact claims that Namutebi owes her Shs 26,600,000.
She says that the pastor regularly gave her between Shs
2,000 and Shs 5,000 whenever she reminded her.
Kashemeire further claims that Pastor Namutebi occasionally
sent her to people’s homes to pray for them. But she
did more than praying; she observed key things around people’s
homes and then briefed Namutebi accordingly.
This information, Kashemeire alleges, would be used by
the preacher to ‘prophesy’ about people’s
lives during her sermons.
Surprised at the pastor’s accurate description of
their lives, Kashemeire says, people would flock to Namutebi’s
office for prayer.
One such person was a married woman, Sarah (not real name).
Kashemeire says she visited her home in Kashari, Mbarara
district.
Sarah’s father, mother and two brothers had died
of AIDS-related illnesses and Sarah was HIV-positive too.
This made Sarah believe her family was cursed.
After Kashemeire had toured Sarah’s home, she briefed
Namutebi.
The woman of God would later describe Sarah’s situation
in a sermon that Sarah reportedly offered to buy fuel for
Namutebi’s Lexus vehicle for one and half years in
appreciation of her prayers.
Sarah, who then worked at Crane Bank, reportedly gave Kashemeire
Shs 7.5 million to pay a fuel station for Namutebi’s
fuel, although the pastor had reportedly wanted the money
in cash.
Sarah later lost her newly born baby and she herself passed
away last year.
Kashemeire says that when she could not get more money from
Sarah, the relationship with Namutebi began to crumble.
She claims that Namutebi suspected her of having got the
money and stolen it, resulting in the alleged assault on
Kashemeire’s daughter.
In the end, Kashemeire turned to Pastor Solomon Male, head
of Arising for Christ, a religious group fighting against
false teachings. With Male’s help, Kashemeire started
telling her story to the media
“I was fed up of being used,” Kashemeire says.
When The Weekly Observer visited Namutebi’s church
to get a sense of what people there know about Kashemeire,
the results were mixed.
“I don’t know where Kashemeire went, she left
after some misunderstandings but her son is with us,”
one usher told this writer in confidence.
Another staff at the church accused Kashemeire of double
standards: “It’s difficult to get information
about her here, Bukedde gave her money forcing her to disown
the testimony she used to give…she is now with false
prophets.”
Namutebi vs media
The Weekly Observer has established that the said case
against Bukedde relates to its July 24, 2007 lead story,
‘Anzibye: Nagenze ewa Namutebi ansabire n’anzigyako
emmotoka yange.’
The article was a narration by David Nsubuga alleging that
Namutebi had advised him to “sow” his Toyota
Hilux 209 UAN so that God could “release” him
for a more expensive vehicle, money to build a beautiful
home, pay school fees for his children and remarry.
Formerly, a special hire driver at Nakasero, Nsubuga said
in the article that the vehicle was his only source of income
and he was finding it difficult to pay his children’s
school fees.
The day the article was published, Namutebi’s lawyers
Kituuma-Magala & Co. Advocates wrote to Bukedde newspaper,
demanding that the paper retracts the story and apologise
to Namutebi or be sued for defamation.
But New Vision’s Legal Officer, Rita Kabatunzi, replied
the next day that the article was simply “a narration
of facts by one David Nsubuga who stands by his claims”
and therefore didn’t amount to defamation.
That case has not yet taken off.
The Weekly Observer has also learnt that Namutebi’s
lawyers complained to the Broadcasting Council against Radio
Sapientia’s programme that hosted Pastor Solomon Male
and Kashemeire during which the pastor was accused of using
the latter for false testimony.
Radio Sapientia Manager, Sister Maria Ssanyu, told The Weekly
Observer that the complaint was dismissed. “There
was no defamation. The Broadcasting Council saw no case
for us to answer,” she said.
The Secretary of the Broadcasting Council, Kagole Kivumbi,
agrees:
“There was no case to answer. Radio Sapientia in our
view didn’t breach any of the minimum broadcasting
standards,” he said.
He added: “She (Kashemeire) was there, she had scientific
information to prove her case (that she had AIDS).”
Threats
For his dealings with Kashemeire, Pastor Solomon Male has
been threatened with jail by people posing as operatives
of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).
In a statement recorded at the Central Police Station on
November 7, 2007, Male reported being threatened by one
Moses Masagala who claimed to be from ISO. Masagala reportedly
warned Male to back off Kashemeire’s allegation or
face jail. But when he was later arrested, Masagala was
allegedly found with an envelope marked “777 Liberty
Worship Centre,”
Pastor Namutebi’s church.
mcmubs@ugandaobserver.com
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