The Florida Masochist: The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Obiri Konjo Yeboah. He gets the award for the following.

A man of God of Ghaniain extraction was arrested and interrogated at Entebbe Airport after he attempted to clear a machine which, police say, he has been using to deliver electric current on unsuspecting worshippers during church service.

"Pastor" Obiri Konjo Yeboah on July 5 failed to convince Aviation Police officers why he needed this machine to do God's work. He is now facing serious charges including fraud and false pretence," Police Spokesman Asan Kasingye told Sunday Monitor yesterday.

Police said the machine can be worn like a corset on the body. It also can generate up to 12 volts.

"When [he] touches his flock, they fall down [thinking] he is using super natural powers," Mr Asan Kasingye said. The machine is placed on any part of the body and gives a pleasant electric shock to whoever touches you.

The waterproof electric machine is activated within 10 seconds and can emit sparks of static electricity between the user's fingers while in darkness. The Yigal Mesika Company in Los angels America manufactures the machine known for freaking people's minds.

Mr Kasingye said the machine using the body as a conductor of electricity, transfers the current to the person in contact but the one using the device remains unaffected.

Other "Born Again" pastors including the head of the National Council of Born Again Churches (NCBC), a body that regulate Pentecostal churches, are calling for prosecution of Yebowa.

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Yeboah is a pastor in We Are One Ministry Church on Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road, Makerere. His father, other pastors say, is Obiri Yeboah, the controversial pioneer of miracle healing in Uganda.

Yeboah ia now claiming the machine was meant to be a birthday gift for his teenage children. This editorial sheds more light on this preacher and others like him.

Indeed, the Bible warns us that there will be false prophets of different shades in the last days; they will deceive the nations with their works claiming to be inspired by the spirit of God Almighty. Today, we see miracle men and women all over the place, they have invaded our sitting rooms on television; the minds of many have been twisted by the preacher people - of course, this is not to say that amongst the many hellfire and brimstone preachers we do not have true evangelicals.

However, the arrest of 'Pastor' Obirir Konjo Yeboah while trying to clear an electric charge releasing device at Entebbe Airport Customs Office is a revelation.

Probably, for the very first time our vigilant police may have stumbled upon the explanation to the 'miraculous' falling down that has been going on in many churches. Most of us have either seen in real life or watched on television how pastors touch people who then simply collapse!

Despite the miracle falling down, many persons who have purportedly been healed by the touch of this conmen posing as the genuine article have remained sick, others have died.