Pastor who was accused of rape wins humanitarian award
Prophet Twahirwa (R) receiving the award from the Uganda Youth Parliamentary Speaker, Mr Briton Tigah Kiwanuka and the member on August 31, 2023. Photo | Busein Samilu
A Ugandan pastor who was in January this year accused of raping a Latvian tourist has won a humanitarian award.
Pastor Joseph Collins Twahirwa alias prophet TJ Collins of Epi Kaizo Ministries-Bugolobi was Thursday handed over an award as the winner of the youngest focused youth inspiring gospel preacher in Uganda.
The award by the Uganda Youth Parliament and African Youth for Pan Africanism Development is part of the annual awards that are given to outstanding personalities.
Mr Twahirwa won this award a few months after being freed from prison where he has been battling a rape case.
Ms Saulite Anda, a 36-year-old Latvian tourist had in January 2023, accused Mr Twahirwa of rape and robbery of funds amounting to $300.
The victim according to media reports, claimed that the pastor also in addition to rape and defrauding her of money, also had her passport confiscated, adding that the police did not help her when she tried to file a case.
She also co-accused three police officers including detectives Sergeant Doreen Oyera, Cpl Judith Akite and Constable Joyce Ayereget – all attached to Jinja Road Police Station for reportedly cornering in a bid to restrict her from pursuing the matter further.
“See the power of God, if you are innocent, God will always fight for you. Even the woman [Anda] who the haters used recently withdrew the case, I was called by police and they told me that the woman had withdrawn the case after telling them that she was being used,” pastor Twahirwa told this reporter on Thursday.
“I did not even know that I was nominated for this award. I just found a letter here saying that I’m a candidate only to be told later that I’m the winner, I can’t take that for granted,” he added.
Handing over the award to the youthful preacher, Mr Briton Tigah Kiwanuka the Speaker of the Uganda Youth Parliament said that he scored highly in discipline, hard work and humbleness.
“We had a total of six pastors who were voted for by over 25,000 people across the four regions, he (Mr Twahirwa) scored highly in Western and Central Uganda,” he said.
Mr Kiwanuka said that the survey started in February and ended in June.
