City pastors cited in baby swapping deal

City pastors have been cited at the centre of a child swapping deal in Kawempe, Kampala, in what reads like a horror movie. Their friend at Kamic Medical Centre allegedly swapped a baby and gave it to them after theirs had died. The swap was exposed long after the real parents had finished burial.However, the pastors of Yesu Akwagala Ministries in Kawempe, known as Maggie and Patience Raymond, deny involvement.

The real parents, Gloria Awino and Rogers Egonga, claim to have failed to get justice and say the Police is frustrating them.

"We have reported the case to all the right offices, but we are being frustrated. The Police in Kawempe has not helped and the doctor who put us through the confusion is out there moving freely," Awino said.

What happened?

On March 21, Awino went into labour at Kamic Medical Centre. George Ssenkomi asked for sh500,000 for a C-section but the couple managed to raise sh300,000. The operation was carried out at 10:00 am. The husband and sister were not allowed in.

Later, the doctor told the father that the baby was born with a hole in the heart, so they had put him on oxygen.

"When I entered to see my baby on oxygen, the doctor just showed me a dead baby who had been dressed in the clothes I had brought. I called my sister-in-law and we took 'our' dead baby," Egonga narrated.

The father buried the baby at his ancestral home in Nakalama village, Iganga district. The mother stayed behind recuperating at the hospital, however, not without premonition.

Egonga remembers to have wondered how the baby looked older than a newborn. "Even the navel seemed to be healing and that's not the case for a newborn. The doctor did not even want me to show the body to my wife, but I insisted because I thought she would feel bad for not looking at her baby," he said.

Shocking news

After the burial, the father returned to the hospital where his wife was recovering. "At night, one of the nurses came around and asked how the baby was. When we told her it had died, she looked confused and called a certain doctor," Egonga narrated.

"When we were discharged in the morning, one of the senior doctors, Dr Pius Lwamafa, asked me for my number. Later, he called and said he wanted to talk to me." Egonga met the doctor at some restaurant near Riham Industries.

"He told me that our baby was alive!" Egonga said. "He said our baby was swapped and given to a pastor who resides in Katooke," Egonga said.

The doctor gave Egonga the number of the couple who had taken his baby, but advised him to report to the Police immediately. He rushed to Kawempe Police Station and recorded a statement.

"While at the Police, Dr.  Ssenkomi called and asked me to go to his hospital and we talk. I went with my sister in- law. He asked me not to listen to rumours. He said our baby was alive, but that the swapping was an accident," Egonga narrated.

The doctor requested him not to involve the Police, but it was too late. He promised to get the baby from the pastors and return it to him. He even called the pastors and told them that the baby they had was not theirs.

Late in the evening, at 8:00pm, Egonga received a call from the pastor and they agreed to meet at Tick Hotel in Kawempe to get the baby.

Egonga tipped the Police, who arrested the pastor and his wife as they were handing over the baby.

DNA test

Egonga returned to Kawempe Police Station two days later to follow up on the case and found that the couple had been released. "To my surprise, the officer in charge of the investigations even threatened to detain me if I refused to negotiate with the couple," he narrated.

Egonga accepted to meet the doctor and the couple. Ssenkomi agreed to pay for the DNA test to confirm the baby's paternity and it was conducted at the MBN Laboratories

Limited in Nakasero. The results confirmed that Egonga and Awino were the biological parents.

After the DNA test, another mediation was organised at Kawempe Police Station and Ssenkomi offered to pay Egonga and wife sh1.5m as compensation. Egonga claims the Police was forcing him to agree.

"Two men came to my home and started insultingus, accusing us of trying to bring the pastor and the doctor down. I decided to get a lawyer, who also turned against me. When he talked to the doctor, he suddenly crossed to his side," he said. Awino's uncle also travelled from Tororo to Kampala to help out, but later crossed to the doctor's side after talking to him.

"He started convincing me that since we are in the lockdown, I should accept the money the doctor is offering. He advised me to remove the case from capital offence to civil, which I was against," Egonga said.

Plea for help

The couple is stuck. They say justice is eluding them. "I am kindly urging the Government to intervene and help us. The people who stole our baby and made us bury a wrong one are walking around freely. We are receiving threats. I want them to pick their dead child from my village," Egonga said.

However, when Sunday Vision contacted Kawempe Police Station, the officer in charge of criminal investigations who handled the matter said she was not allowed to talk to the media.

"Those people got their baby back. But if you want more information from me, contact the CID spokesperson to call me and I brief him," she said.

Sunday Vision also found that the file was moved to Central Police Station (CPS), Kampala. This means Egonga has to move from Kawempe to CPS to follow on up the case and every time, he is told to return. Even the Police officer who was helping him, stopped communicating. The family is now calling on Uganda Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council to help investigate the case.

Those involved speak

Pastor Raymonds refused to comment on the matter. "I am aware of the case, but I cannot comment. If you want any information, go to Kawempe Police Station," Raymonds said. Ssenkomi said his negotiation with the couple is at a certain level. "The couple should not deceive you; our negotiations are going on well. But I am not comfortable discussing it on an office line, call me using your personal number," he said.

When contacted, Rwamafa, who broke the news, spilled more beans. "I have only worked with Ssenkomi for a month, but what I have seen breaks my heart. The man is just a clinical officer with a diploma, but he is abusing our profession," Rwamafa said.

He narrated that the Raymonds, who are longtime friends to Ssenkomi, came to the hospital for child delivery. Rwamafa examined her and said she would deliver normally but Ssenkomi insisted that she gives birth by C-section because it brings in more money. "I felt so embarrassed by that argument. I excused myself, so he contacted Dr Umar Ntulume, who works at Kawempe Referral Hospital, to come and do the operation. When I returned in the morning, I was told that the mother was given a drug known as Ketamine, which affected the speed of delivery, so, her baby was exhausted and put on oxygen," Rwamafa said.

He said he found the baby on oxygen and was told that Ssenkomi had ordered all nurses not to tell the mother that her son was on oxygen because she had paid a lot of money for a caesarean birth.

"On Saturday, I examined Awino and she was supposed to give birth normally. Because I work during the day, I had to leave. When I came back the next day, I was told Awino's baby had died but I saw the pastor's wife breastfeeding a baby. I wondered how fast a baby I left on oxygen had recovered to be able to breastfeed. The nurses told me Ssenkomi had asked all of them to retire and stayed alone at the hospital," Rwamafa said.

That is when Rwamafa realised there was some conspiracy. When Ssenkomi got to know that Rwamafa was being nosy, he laid him off. "That night, I did not sleep. I wanted to be true and fair.

So, I decided to tell the young couple what had happened.I am the one who pushed everything from the Police to DNA. I am even the one who drove the Police officers from Kawempe to arrest thosepeople," he said.