By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Drama ensued at Top Media offices in Makerere Kavule a Kampala suburb after employees of Top Radio and Top TV owned by Christian Life Ministries Church Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga sealed off the premises.
The employees have since decided to lock the media offices and refused to work until they have been paid their salaries noting that they have not been paid for several months yet they have families to look after on top of the current economic crisis.
The employees have previously accused Ssenyonga of spending hundreds of millions on marriage parties for his children and buying new vehicles while ignoring their salary arrears for a long time.
According to sources, there has been no communication about this from the ever-boosting Pastor which has left the employees with no choice but to take action.
Other sources revealed that Pastor Ssenyonga advised the employees to sow their salary arrears as seeds for tithe so as to harvest windfall which has since remained an empty promise to the starving employees.
This is not the first time Top Radio and Top TV employees have gone on strike. Last year, the workers dragged Pastor Ssenyonga to the Gender Ministry and the station’s general manager, Ronald Mubiru over the same but it seems like nothing has been done since then.
It’s worth noting that Pastor Ssenyonga and his wife Eva Ssenyoga were also dragged to court in 2018 for allegedly failing to pay for goods supplied to them by Nathan Bisaso in 2013 until the bill accumulated to five billion Uganda shillings.
Bisaso, through his lawyers, Ssekidde Associated Advocates, on September 21, 2017, filed a plaint in the High Court of Uganda at the Commercial Court, seeking recovery of debt amounting to Ugx. 5 billion from the defendants, Pastors Jackson and Eva Ssenyonga, represented by Birungyi, Barata and Associates.
According to court documents, Mr Bisaso claims the defendants took products from his business at B.N. Enterprises around Nasser Road in 2013 on credit, which gradually amounted to Ugx. 5.2 billion.
Mr Bisaso attached an agreement signed by the defendants on September 8, 2016, stipulating a payment plan of the Ugx. 5.2b worth of goods supplied.
“The plaintiff entered into a contract to supply goods with the defendants in the year 2013. By 2014, he was demanding Ugx, 5.2 billion but since 2013, the defendants adamantly ignored contractual obligations. Since September 8, 2016, after signing the agreement, only Ugx. 270m has been paid,”
However, the Pastors later dismissed the contract drafted by Katende Sempebwa and company advocates as fraudulent and illegal further noting that the claims of the transaction as the money lent disguised as goods supplied.
According to Ssenyonga, Bisaso lent them Ugx. 800m which shot up due to a high-interest rate of 20 per cent levied on the principal amount because they could not pay on time.
Pastor Senyonga is one of the richest religious leaders in Uganda behind the Bwaise-based Christian Life Centre, owns Top Radio and Top Tv, schools and a host of other businesses in the city.
