AFP
May 23, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jCMfJ7SYna0Yw2mNd-zL9Px6HIuQ
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| Pastor Robert Kayanja (centre), pictured during a meeting of a born again Christian church in Uganda in 2008 |
KAMPALA (AFP) — Uganda's presidency for the first time Thursday commented on a scandal in which an influential born again Christian pastor with ties to the ruling family is accused of sodomy.
Pastor Robert Kayanja, a wealthy evangelical pastor who claims credit for converting President Yoweri Museveni and his wife, was accused of sexually abusing two teenage male church members.
The two teenagers were briefly detained by police and on Wednesday retracted the allegations they had filed earlier this year, prompting accusations that the presidency had intervened to quash the scandal.
On Thursday, the State House press office convened a briefing to deny any interference in the case, which has occupied front pages for days and further incensed growing criticism of the regime.
"The president does not condone any interference with the due process of law and directs that all members of government not involved with the investigations or prosecution desist from any interference," Museveni's press secretary Tamale Mirundi told AFP.
The five pastors who assisted the two teenagers to come forward and file a complaint with the police have charged that their statements were retracted under pressure or in exchange for money.
The accusations surfaced earlier this month when suspicion was aroused by Kayanja's offer to renovate a dilapidated police station in Kampala.
Kayanja supporters have accused rival pastors of seeking to tarnish his name ahead of a visit by America's famous Israeli-born healing televangelist Benny Hinn, who is to be hosted by Kayanja's Miracle Centre Church.
Kayanja is widely seen as one of the most powerful men in Uganda and the pointman of the evangelical faith's spectacular progress at all levels of the east African country's society over the past few years.
Sodomy is punishable by life imprisonment in Uganda and Museveni's regime has recently come out with strong statements stigmatising homoxesuals.
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