Inside the Kanungu Doomsday Cult of Joseph Kibwetere

Summary:

• A doomsday cult led by Joseph Kibwetere in Uganda resulted in over 1,000 deaths, with many burned alive or buried in mass graves. Investigations suggest Kibwetere died before the 2000 inferno. Despite efforts to arrest the leaders, none have been caught. The cult preyed on vulnerable individuals, including refugees and those with mental health issues.

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Twenty-four years later, Joseph Kibwetere and his church, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, remain one of the unresolved mysteries in present-day Uganda. The death of more than 1,000 followers, burned to death and bodies discovered at mass graves in Bushenyi and Buziga in Kampala, confounded the nation. President Museveni immediately announced the setting up of a commission of inquiry to look into the matter, but its findings were never made public.

In 2014, the Parliamentary Committee of Defense and Internal Affairs revisited the incident following a petition two years earlier by the Kinkizi County MP Dr. Cris Baryomunsi on behalf of the orphans of the cult followers. The committee established that the Church of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments was premised on the calculated belief that the end of the world was imminent, hence the need to prepare for an apocalyptic end. The committee also found that the cult started gathering mass between 1985 and 1995, with growing branches in Rutooma, Rugazi, Kyaka, and Rubirizi, among other places.

Psychiatrists from Makerere University have pieced together some clues that offer insights into the death of Kibwetere’s doomsday cult followers in Kanungu District on March 17, 2000. International arrest warrants were issued for six suspects, including Joseph Kibwetere, Reverend Father Dominic Kataribabo, Reverend Sister Credonia Mwerinde, Reverend Father Joseph Kasapurari, Reverend John Kamagara, and Reverend Sister Ursula Komuhangi. To date, none have been arrested.

Professor Eugene Kinyanda, a psychiatrist with the Department of Psychiatry at Makerere University, reckons that he is able to account for the three main leaders. “To begin with, Joseph Kibwetere is believed to have died prior to the March 2000 inferno. The wife told Examiner that at one point, she was informed that he had been in a bus supported by two cult members. He was very physically weak,” Kinyanda recounts. “At some point, he left the picture, and we were left with Credonia and Father Kataribabo. Kibwetere’s exit may have led to a more radical direction for the church.”

Jacob Katumusiime’s doctoral thesis, “Beyond Religio-Cultural Violence: A Historic Political Recontextualization of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God,” places Kibwetere’s death before the inferno. “He is believed to have died on July 26, 1999,” Katumusiire notes, citing an interview with a source who transported cult members and recalled a motionless Kibwetere being transported in the back of a pickup.

Teresa, Kibwetere’s wife, recounted that he was buried in Lugazi at Father Kataribabo’s home, with family members performing last funeral rites. Another source maintained that Kibwetere suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, which may have contributed to his death.

Officially, the cult leaders are still at large, though Professor Kinyanda believes Father Kataribabo and Credonia Mwerinde died in the inferno. “From our research, we could account for all three leaders,” Kinyanda states. “Kibwetere seemed to have died earlier, maybe two or three years before the inferno. In the inferno, there was evidence of a priest’s ring, indicating Father Dominic’s presence.”

Mwerinde’s nephew, Kananura Santumino, offered an alternative account, suggesting she was taken to Congo and survived. As part of research by the Department of Psychiatry, multiple mass grave sites were visited, and key informant interviews were conducted. Initial theories suggested cult leaders and members had HIV or a history of mental illnesses, with some evidence supporting this.

Professor Seggane Musisi, a psychiatrist and former chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Makerere University, led the team of researchers. “There was evidence that many cult victims had mental health problems or had been traumatized in their lives,” Musisi reveals. “Many were refugees reported to have had HIV/AIDS or psychiatric disorders.”

23% of the interview sources that informed the psychological autopsies of the 105 deceased victims were neighbors of the deceased. 62% of the deceased had spent between 1 to 4 years in the cult. 3% had HIV/AIDS. 12% of the deceased victims were school pupils, and 7.6% were preschoolers, whereas the majority were peasants. 30% of the deceased victims had been recruited by the cult leader, and 47% by their mother.

Professor Segane reflects on the unexpected findings of his study into the Kanungu cult: the lack of government control to protect people against these exploitative missions or evangelization of vulnerable people. This was surprising, as Professor Kinyanda tells it, led the cult together with Father Dominic Kataribabo, who was a theologian educated in the United States but had been scarred by the experience. Credonia Mwerinde completed the unholy Trinity that led this cult, and by all accounts, she was charismatic and tasked with most of the public-facing duties, as well as providing a link between the followers and the leadership of the cult. Credonia, who was a former bar owner, was very charismatic and in touch with the people. So, the three of them together made a very effective group that was convincing and able to drive their idea to the population.

The psychological control over their devotees alerted some community leaders, who raised concerns with local authorities. Bishop Dan Zoreka, a parish priest at the time, recalled an incident where cult members stood still in the rain during a function, showing their extreme indoctrination.

Professor Kanyanda’s account of Credonia’s early life is verified by her nephew Kananura. Crona was very enterprising by nature. She didn’t have much luck in love, so she started a bar, which ultimately failed. She then returned to her father’s home, where she established the church where the inferno happened. Kananura recalls visiting his aunt’s church, where he had been invited for a party. They used to invite their kinsmen to parties at the church, where they would eat and drink. However, he noticed children looking at them through the windows, begging for food, indicating their suffering.

Women comprised 58% of all the cult members, and all the devotees of the cult were initially from the Catholic Church. Furthermore, 39% of the cult members were children and youth between the ages of 1 and 19, who had accompanied their mothers to Kanungu.

Denis Buhunga, a 61-year-old resident of Mandu in Rubaya SA County in Kabale District, lost his wife and four children in the inferno, including twins who were months old. He recalls how a chance meeting with his wife’s schoolmate, who was a disciple of Joseph Kibwetere, led to his wife abandoning their home with their four children.

His wife went to Kanungu in January 2000 and spent a weekend there with the children, then returned to ask that they get married formally because she wanted to return to Kanungu and not live in sin. Despite his objections, she abandoned their home, and her in-laws intervened when they realized she had abandoned her marriage, like four other female relatives who had early converted to the cult and abandoned their homes, claiming they were saved and their husbands were sinners. She sold the forest she owned and used the money to travel to Kanungu.

Professor Kinyanda discusses the psychological spell the cult had on its followers, explaining that the brain is not fixed but rather plastic, meaning beliefs can be changed through certain methods, such as limiting communication with the outside world and repetitively citing Bible verses.

Bishop Dan Zoreka, who was serving as a parish priest of Naruga Parish at the time, recalls an incident that foreshadowed what was to come. During a function resembling Independence Day, rain poured heavily, yet the cult members stood still, convinced by their teachings. Bishop Zoreka intervened, realizing the extent of the influence the cult had over its members.

As the rain poured heavily, the cult members stood still, prompting Bishop Zoreka to intervene and question their actions. He recognized that the doomsday prophecy, set for December 31st, 1999, had not come to pass, causing doubt and confusion among the cult’s followers. This led the cult leaders to develop a final solution.

Professor Kinyanda explains that the cult leaders began holding meetings at night, where they resorted to poisoning, bludgeoning, and even burying people alive in pits. Some graves were never exhumed, indicating the extent of the killings. The final inferno was planned as a means to transport the followers to heaven through fire.

The walls that once housed the leaders of the doomsday cult now hold the grim history of those who dared to question their beliefs, meeting swift and violent ends. Despite past incidents and recent cases, the government is hesitant to exercise oversight over religious groups, fearing accusations of infringing on religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

The government proposes a policy known as the Religious Faith Organization Policy, emphasizing its aim to avoid involvement in matters of doctrine. This policy aims to uphold the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution without reducing them in any way.

Despite the proliferation of bad faith actors in religious circles, the government is cautious about exercising oversight to avoid infringing on religious freedoms enshrined in the constitution. The proposed Religious Faith Organization Policy aims to regulate without interfering with doctrine. “Our policy is not about doctrine,” Alex Okello, Permanent Secretary in the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity, clarifies. “We are not amending the constitution or reducing freedom guaranteed in it.”

The term “doomsday cult” was coined by anthropologist John Lofland in 1966 to describe groups making predictions about an apocalypse and attempting to bring it about. While separation from the world is common among devout religious followers, the motives of the Church of the Movement of the Restoration of the Ten Commandments doomsday cult remain a subject of study and speculation.

Source: Examiner

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