Moses Owera, a supervisor working for Planet Water Park in Kampala has come out to apologize to the public and particularly to Ms. Brenda Kabibi, whose autistic child he allegedly discriminated during the swimming exercise.
“I sincerely apologize to Brenda, I didn’t mean to be offensive or discriminative to her children; I am a father of seven, one of my children is a special needs child, I know what it takes to raise children and later a one with special abilities,” atoned Owera.
He revealed that his actions were as a result of relentless complaints raised by other parents, whose children were also swimming at the same recreational facility, noting he acted out of pressure.
“At first, I calmed down parents that were complaining but once the sixth parent approached me, I decided to politely reach out to the mother to assist her daughter during the melt-down,” Owera said.
It should be noted that Ms. Kabibi had the nasty experience on July 1st, 2023. She narrates that she visited the park to have fun with her children one of whom is autistic and non-verbal, saying it was all fun as it has always been for the number of times she has visited the park, until one of the staff asked her to remove her autistic child from the swimming pool.
She is a mother of five and has since come out to express her disappointment with the manner in which she was treated at Planet Water Park by one of the staff.
She said that she was asked to leave the Park premises by Mr. Owera, who disclosed to her that parents of other kids who were taking part in the swimming activity were not okay with her child coming near to theirs, given the kid’s autistic condition.
“Two hours into swimming, a supervisor named Moses comes over to me and asks me to leave. I asked why, he said some parents had said they were not comfortable with their children near mine because she’s not healthy. My heart split in that moment,” Kabibi narrated.
Ms. Kabibi adds that she felt humiliated when Planet Staff asked her to leave the premises and promised to refund her money so that he doesn’t lose other customers. She stood her ground and had her children continue swimming until late when they got tired and returned home.
“This wasn’t my first time at the Planet water park, we have always had great services from the staff, the pool attendants are so excellent and they are aware that this was an autistic child and she could swim on her own. I had never interfaced with the Moses, I only interfaced with the waiters and the life guards in the pool who are good at their job,” Kabibi added.
She has since called upon Planet Water Park management to immediately fire Mr. Owera because she feels he was discriminative against her child.
When this website reached out to Mr. Owera, he admitted acting offensively to Ms. Kabibi, and said that without consulting the management, he took the action that he felt was fit and accommodate
A remorseful Owera has since expressed fear that he might lose his job which would make it almost impossible for him to provide for his family. Against this background, he has sincerely appealed to the general public for forgiveness and not to crucify him.
It should be noted that if a child is treated less favourably because of something arising from their autism, it is tantamount to direct discrimination arising from a disability, which is against the rights of a child, according to the December 2021 report by UNICEF.
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