After recovering from coronavirus, celebrity pastor Robert Burale has disclosed how some of his close friends wished he had succumbed.

In an interview with Jalas on YouTube, an emotional Burale said he has since lost friends. He noted that while he was not bothered by people who claimed he was faking contracting the deadly virus, he was hurt by comments from close friends.

“I got some screenshots while in hospital and I wasn’t hurt by what they were saying but some people who spoke,” he said, adding: “People you’ve invited for dinner, people who stood with me and then went and wrote ‘I can’t wait to wake up to ‘RIP Burale’.”

The image consultant who also doubles up as a motivational speaker said he had picked some valuable lessons from the experience; he learnt to reduce the number of seats at his dinner table because he no longer has time for dilute friendships.

“I will tell you one thing if you think you have five friends, I will advice you to go to the hospital and get checked,” he said.

“My burden was heavy. It is only by the grace of God I walked out healthy both physically and mentally,” he said.

Robert Burale also advised his host Jalango to be wary of the people close to him as some are there because of his platform.

“Today if your platform is taken away from you, no one will remember you. People sit with you but not to support you but to look for ways to hurt you,” he said.

The preacher also addressed claims that he conned actress Nini Wacera off Sh250,000, money she had saved to buy a car.

Burale said he has never been a car dealer.

“I haven’t seen her for like 12/13 years…I cannot deny that I knew her, she was my friend and it disappointed me when all people were concentrating on some quarters, ati ooh, she wanted to have sex with me (I think she said something like that). Let’s keep the main thing the main thing. We didn’t have sex…but again I wasn’t born again then.

“It is us who know what happened, there is a lot I would say but just because I have been on the receiving end of people saying things in your absence, that you cannot defend yourself or maybe explain. It will also be foolish of me to say some things and somebody is not here to defend themselves. One thing you have to understand and hear me, I don’t live in Qatar, I live in Nairobi and if somebody wants to look for me, where am I hiding?”