Botswana SDA pastor in trouble in Namibia

Tefo Pheage | Wednesday September 14, 2016 16:02

Pastor Kenaope is said to have uploaded posters with the pictures of Emilia Paulus (2) with the caption ‘Project Emilia 4 000’ on social media. The said child has been in the Namibian press recently, where her mother has been appealing for assistance to enable her to go for an operation.

Olaotse Gabasiane, the executive secretary of SDA told Mmegi in a brief interview that the church does not know anything about their leader’s alleged offences to the Namibians, further adding that the pastor went there for public evangelism. “It is news to us. We do not know that he was going to sell his books, but that he was on a public evangelism mission. I spoke to him last night and he did not share anything with me on that,” Gabasiane said.

The Kenaope’s poster that landed him in trouble says he will donate N$100,000 to Emilia if people bought 4,000 copies of his two books. The poster further says that an extra N$50,000 will be given to 10 selected people for supporting the project. The poster further says those who want to participate can contact Base FM for the account details.

It is understood that the Namibian Police have confirmed that a case has been opened against the pastor with them.

Emilia’s mother, Emilian Joel Paulus Shisaande is quoted in the Namibian press as saying she never consented to Kenaope advertising her daughter’s pictures, further adding that she met Kenaope when he came to the hospital to pray for Emilia.

“He said nothing about money. He just told me that he is a pastor and a doctor, and then prayed. That is all,” Shisaande stated.

Kenaope is reported to have said he heard about Emilia on Base FM before coming to Namibia for business on September 1, 2016 but swiftly admitted that he did not know how things are done in Namibia. “I wanted to assist. I don’t know what to say. I needed my books to sell in Namibia. Emilia is not the first one. I have helped a lot of people in the past. I cannot reveal who they are on this platform,” Kenaope is reported to have said to the Namibian press.

The pastor said he also spoke to some American doctors to help Emilia, but because people, especially the NWLA doubts him, he will drop everything.

NWLA chairperson Ruth Herunga in response according to the Namibian press said they had learnt with great disappointment about the pastor’s actions.

“How does selling his books have anything to do with Emilia? It is against this background that we assisted Emilia’s mother to register a case against this organisation with the police,” she said.

Herunga further stated that one of the NWLA’s main objectives is the protection of the rights of all women, children and vulnerable members of Namibian society. The NWLA said any contributions for Emilia’s cause should be deposited into their trust account, whose details are: Emilia Paulus Trust E-Bank, Account Number 7001058226, Branch Code: 882 000.