Abiaz Rwamwiri, the National Drug Authority (NDA) Public Relations Officer (PRO), risks being arrested for his ‘deceitful’ comments on Tickoff, an acaricide produced by Pastor Robert Kayanja of Miracle Center Cathedral.
Abiaz claimed on February 7 that the acaricide is laced with diazinon, a highly concentrated fumigant used to kill bedbugs, bats, and termites.
He also alleged that it was found to be contaminated with Fipronil a spray that was banned for food-producing animals because of the long withdrawal period due to the potential risks it could have on human health in Benalaxyl a fungicide which was found to have cancer-causing components.
According to a statement issued by NDA on Tuesday, the chemicals were being mixed with animal feeds and silverfish and packaged without an expiry date, ingredient information, or warning.
His allegations followed a raid by police and NDA officials at Kayanja’s Church where they demanded a prompt meeting with Kayanja over the drug. At the time, the Pastor declined the engagement because he was still held in different meetings of his Ministry.
Now, all the allegations, according to Pastor Kayanja, are false, fabricated and inaccurate, only intended to dent his reputation and misinform the public since the chemicals referred to by Abiaz as banned by NDA, are actually among the approved chemicals under the National Drug Register of Uganda – veterinary medicines April 2022.
According to the NDA register, as of February 2022, Fipronil is actually an authorized active ingredient in pestigon (Fipronil 100MG) an approved drug for pesticide control Reg No. NDA/MAL/VDP/15949 made in Uk).
Also, for Benalaxyl there are a number of products registered with it as an active ingredient including DUOPIP Reg. No. NDA/MAL/VDP/2 881 (Made in UK), PROTAID.
To the effect, the Pastor has readied to drag Abiaz personally and the Authority to court to answer for their lies, and why they would deliberately distort facts about this drug.
Kayanja, through his lawyers Katende and Sempebwa company advocates, has already served NDA with letters of intention to sue, demanding that they withdraw the misleading claims in 72 hours and apologize to him, or else face the law.
Pastor Kayanja says various news publications including the Daily Monitor relied on Abiaz’s defamatory press release, to publish several articles that have since negatively affected his noble reputation.
“It should be noted that the contents in these articles were drawn from the defamatory allegations made in your press release to our Client’s detriment.
“These false statements alleging that Our Client is involved in ‘production and distribution of counterfeit arcaricides’ were unfounded as Our Client is not a director or a shareholder of the product in issue and there was no report from NDA to confirm the said findings save for the tweets,” reads the Notice in part.
The Pastor says the defamatory allegations were only intended to damage his reputation as a man of God among reasonable members of the society.
“The defamatory tweets on your personal twitter account clearly shows that you had a personal vendetta against our client and it is only after being challenged by the public on twitter that an official statement was released on the 7th February 2023,” the Notice reads further.
Pastor Kayanja says that by the time he started interactions with NDA, he had earlier contacted a couple of laboratories both locally and internationally and their findings were contrary to Abiaz
Rwamiri’s statements.
“It is therefore our conclusion that it is clearly malicious and defamatory that NDA has not shared their so called findings or report with our client or anyone else,” reads the Notice in part.
Pastor Kayanja now demands withdrawal of the said defamatory statements from NDA and Abiaz official Social Media Platforms inclusive of the Twitter accounts within 72 hours from the date of issue of this notice, as well as issuing a public apology in publications that carried the false story.
Failure to adhere to the demands, Pastor Kayanja has instructed his lawyers to institute legal proceedings against Abiaz Rwamwiri personally and NDA for the recovery of compensation for the damage caused to his reputation as a good standing person in society.