NEWS EDITOR
A FEW hours to the presidential address yesterday evenning, a group of Kasero angry residents in Kasero -Buloba, Wakiso district forcefully chased a member of Watoto Ministries out of their village after being tipped off by an insider that he was confirmed to be a Covid-19 victim confined in the premises of this Pentecostal Church.
Lead by Pastor Gary Skinner, Watoto Church is an English speaking cell-based community church located around East Africa and headquartered in Kampala, Uganda with many branches.
According to their vision, they say are celebrating Christ, growing and multiplying as each one reaches one, touching those around them with the love of Jesus, bringing healing to the cities and the nations. Watoto is a Swahiri word meaning ‘the children’ in Swahiri.
Kirimamboga-Kasero area LC 1 Chairman one Solomon Ssebayiga who in vain cooled down the angry residents, later sided with them, Watoto Church was asked to find another place for their patient, not this village.
“They have finally succumbed to the community pressure, and whisked away their patient.” Chairman Solmon Ssebayiga told the News Editor Online.
Shouting at the top of their voices and making an alarm to whoever cared, residents had vowed to set ablaze Watoto Church premises if they dont take away their Covid-19 patient.
This patient was allegedly sneaked into this village from Entebbe quarantine instead of being taken to Mulago or Entebbe grade B hospitals as stipulated by the government.
At first, Watoto Ministries, formerly Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) thought the residents were joking until the number of demonstrators increased and vowed not to leave the premises until the patient was evacuated.
Within a few minutes, an ambulance from Kampala arrived with masked medical officials who picked the victim from a well guarded Watoto premises and took him to an unknown destination.
After overpowering Watoto Church, residents started jubilating saying, “God is good, now the virus carrier who we feared would infect infect others in the community has been evacuated.”
DETAILS
Insiders say, on return from a tour in Europe, a group of members from Watoto Ministries were among those confined for 14 days in Entebbe and one of them tested postive for Covid-19.
Watoto ministries however opted to isolate their member and get him medication at the Watoto Elderly home in Kasero, Buloba Wakiso district instead of keeping him at a medical facility as earlier guided by the government.
On delivering him to these premises, onlookers say, two ambulances came with masked medical personnel escorted by a convoy of cars. Alot of activity was going on at a home that had earlier been abandoned.
This made the community suspicious.
Before this, Watoto ministries briefed their staff on how one of their own had tested positive for Covid -19.They therefore decided to evacuate all the elderly people that were formerly residing at the home to accommodate their patient.
A staff member who requested anonymity confirmed to this Website that, “Yes we were briefed by our bosses about our member who tested positive for Covid-19 and were going to use this place to isolate him. So we were aware.”
On getting reliable information that a Covid 19 patient had been brought into their village, angry residents started demonstrating demanding for the evacuation of the patient.
Among the reasons they fronted was that: unlike infectious disease control centers, Watoto ministries Premises was least suited to handle the such a case.
- It has no perimeter wall, which means control of the quarantined boy could not be guaranteed.
- It is situated in the middle of homesteads. Sitting on barely an acre of land, the small home was abandoned due to its tiny space and left for the elderly pensioners who had served the establishment. The elderly were moved away in rue of the scare, leaving the neighborhood to face the music.
- It isn’t a hospital, it isn’t a health unit, it isn’t a government run facility.
This made the residents question whether the establishment is honest in doing so and playing their role in securing the community and curbing the spread of the pandemic that has made super powers crawl, or were just eager to save as much money as possible.
“We were therefore worried and had to raise our voices so that concerned authorities hear us and give us the urgently needed help or we forcefully close this center that carelessly seeks to wipe out the entire underprivileged village.” Said a concerned senior resident.
