Pastor Ezra Cumberbatch of the Kingdom Life Tabernacle in Mesopotamia has denied allegations that evacuees housed at the church due to the eruption of La Soufriere Volcano were thrown out after some weeks.
A source said yesterday that evacuees were asked to leave the Kingdom Life Tabernacle, a member of the Pentecostal Assembly of the West Indies (PAWI) because the leadership wanted the church to be returned to normal settings.
The source also said that the National Emergency Management Organization took the evacuees to an emergency shelter in West St George.
When contacted yesterday, pastor Cumberbatch said he had heard the allegation before.
“They are spurious claims against the church,” pastor Cumberbatch said, adding that the church did not run anyone.
Pastor Cumberbatch said he believed that he had an idea of the source of the allegation.
The Kingdom Life Tabernacle pastor said that after about two months at the church evacuees were getting antsy. He said they began complaining that they were at the shelter too long and they wanted to be closer to home where they could go to clean their home.
According to pastor Cumberbatch, some evacuees returned home and others said they wanted to be relocated.
On the matter of the church wanted space to conduct worship service, pastor Cumberbatch said the church was conducting services while the evacuees were housed there.
Pastor Cumberbatch said that following the requests by evacuees, NEMO was contacted and they were relocated to the Doris McKie Learning Resource Centre in West St George.
