{UAH} OF MUSEVENI, KIBWETERE, LAKWENA AND JOSEPH KONY'S CULT MOVEMENTS

By CHANGE OF GUARDS 

Uganda's military dictator is the Chairman of his National Resistance Movement (NRM). Joseph Kibwetere was the leader of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments (MRTC). Alice Lakwena was the leader of the militant Holly Spirit Movement (HSM) and Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

JOSEPH KIBWETERE'S MRTC
Joseph Kibwetere founded MRTC around the late 1980s and preached the end of the world in 2000. In that regard, he encouraged his followers to sell off their private property and bring the money to the organisation in preparation for the end of the world. His followers would assemble in his church which he referred to as the Noah's Ark to meet the Virgin Mary before singing in joy while 'going to heaven'. Kibwetere's cult was registered as an NGO in 1997 and a year later, in 1998 it was incorporated as a company. The then District Commissioner, Kamacherere had blocked the registration and closed its school but when he was transferred, two months later Kibutwere's organisation was registered and his predecessor laid a foundation stone for the construction of the church. 

Kibwetere attracted a number of followers in the western and central regions of Uganda. His group's leadership managed to take hold of their followers' total allegiance through severe punishment for questioning, doubting and any form of dissent. They used strict rules of silence, denunciation sessions and impoverishment to suppress any form of doubts about the group and its leaders. With the use of well crafted propaganda, the leadership controlled how the followers would think. A dogmatic environment was created whereby the followers hardly questioned what the church was imparting to them. 

In January 2000, a volunteer formally lodged a complaint about the sinister activities of the organisation to Museveni's Private Secretary in charge of Criminal Investigations, J.B Okumu. The complaint was to the effect that the organisation was a cult involved in kidnapping and retaining children and that those who would die would buried in mass graves. On January 25, 2000 JB Okumu wrote to the DPC of Kanungu district, Patrick Mugizi,  directing him to investigate tte complaint. 

 On February 5th, the said DPC wrote back saying the said NGO was legally operating and that there was no kidnappings, killings and mass burials. A month later in February, the NGO burnt to death more than 700 people in a single incident. It is alleged that when the earlier prediction that the world was to end on December 31, 1999 did not bear fruits, Joseph Kibwetere told his followers that the world would end on January 1st 2000. Eventually, he summoned all his followers from all corners of the country and set them on fire inside a church in Kanungu district on March 17, 2000. An estimated 700 people are said to have perished in that inferno but there have been rumours that thousands of people were burnt to death.

After the said inferno, hundreds of more dead bodies buried much earlier were discovered in mass graves and underneath concrete floors in different parts of the country. The government buried the bodies of the victims in mass graves and no effort was made to identify who they were. Eight months later, in December 2000, the government instituted a seven man commission of inquiry headed by Justice Kania was instituted. However, for unknown reasons, its work never took off. In September 2013, the Parliamentary Committee of Defense and Internal Affairs carried out some investigations. It interacted with Museveni and some of his top security managers over the matter. Unfortunately, its findings, though were not made public, placed the blame on state security agencies for having failed to detect the impending cult massacre, despite the timely information availed. 

In February 2016, a group of orphans, whose parents lost their lives in the said inferno, met Museveni in Kanungu and he promised them financial help. In 2014, the police issued a statement suggesting that Kibwetere was hiding in Malawi. On July 23, 2019, the leader of the opposition in parliament, Betty Aol asked for a report on the Kibwetere massacre prompting the speaker to task the Prime Minister to produce the report. During the same parliamentary session, Parliament resolved that government should extend financial assistance to the orphans and other dependants of those who had lost their lives in the inferno. Thereafter, the Speaker wrote to the Prime Minister twice in September 2019 and February 2020 reminding him about the compensation to the said victims. 

This week, the same group of orphans have once again petitioned the Speaker of Parliament seeking financial help and complaining that they have even been denied access to the burial site. The Speaker has once again directed the Prime Minister to produce the report within two weeks. 

ALICE LAKWENA'S HSM
Alice Lakwena, who claimed she was possessed by the Holy Spirit, founded her movement around late 1986. She claimed that the movement had a mission of overthrowing the Museveni government in Kampala where it was to initiate a Paradise on Earth. She mobilised a number of fighters who she indoctrinated into believing that being smeared with blessed oil would protect them from bullets, that blessed stones hurled at enemy soldiers would explode and that advancing in combat while singing hyms would guarantee victory. She managed to rally hundreds of people from her home area of Acholi who even included military commanders and Academicians like Prof. Newton Ojok. Indeed, with strict guidelines for spiritual control on her followers, HSM fought from northern Uganda through the eastern region but only to be defeated in Jinja on its way to Kampala. 

JOSEPH KONY'S LRA
The so-called declared prophet, the former Alter Boy, picked from where Alice Lakwena had stopped. He founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) with the aim of overthrowing the Museveni regime and instituting a government that would rule the country according to the Biblical Ten Commandments. Based on Christian fundamentalism, Joseph Kony built a personal cult. His LRA attracted a sizeable number of followers, including the educated, both in the country and abroad. It grew into a formidable armed rebellion force that for twenty years gave Museveni's army a bloody nose. Kony maintained strict control on his followers through making them believe that he had spiritual powers. Any form of dissent was met with severe reprimand including death.

MUSEVENI'S NRM
Museveni founded his National Resistance Movement (NRM) as a political wing of his National Resistance Army (NRA) that waged war against the government in 1981. With just a few guns, his movement attracted the young, old, the illiterate and intellectuals alike. He made them believe him and the anointed leader and applied strict control through a code of conduct whose breach called for severe reprimand including death. When he came into power 35 years ago, he intensified his manipulation of citizens into believing that he was a saviour who had come to salvage Uganda. Then his NRM brutally crashed those who detested Museveni's ascendancy to power. Now that he has realized that the majority of Ugandans have discovered his deceit and evil designs, he has opted to openly run his movement as a cult. He is presiding over a small clique of the politically and economically powerful who have taken the rest of the citizens hostage. 

Museveni's cult worships him as their God. They have openly described him in several terms;
superhuman, sent by God, chosen by God, he is like Jesus, more intelligent than all members of the cabinet combined, he is intellectually beyond human, a gift from God etc. Most bizarre is that some of such statements have come from even well educated individuals. No one is supposed to contest against Museveni in his movement but must, instead, obey everything he says. He manipulates his followers into passing resolutions declaring him sole candidate. It is in this same regard that he has been using the same cult to amend the constitution first to remove the presidential term limits and then the age limit to allow him to continue in office. 

During the recent mock selection of his NRM Central Executive Committee members, he ring-fenced some positions not to be competed for and he was the one to decide who qualified for vying for the rest of the positions. According to the Observer newspaper, some well learned individuals were seen pleading for his endorsement thus;
".... they were all reminding Museveni of how loyal they have been to him.

"Your excellence, remember when you met me in Gulu," said Dr Odongo Oledo who also wants to replace Engola.

"Your excellency speaking to you is the girl you met in Bakuli in Kampala, so many years ago," said Florence Kintu Tumwine who is challenging Kyaligonza.

"Your excellency it's me Kefa Mafumo, the young man you identified from Bugisu and gave a job at State House," Said Kefa Mafumo who wants Kigongo's job.

"Your excellency, I have been part of this struggle ever since 1980 when I was a member of UPM," said Capt Francis Babu who wants to replace Kigongo.

They went on and on, one after the other, telling the president how they are the best candidates because of the history he has with them.

As if that was not enough, he made them vote by writing their names, full address, telephone number and signature against the preferred candidate. 

  
The common denominator for the above mentioned movement cults is that their leaders use manipulation and intimidation into securing the allegiance of their followers. 

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Rehema
Patriot in Kampala,East Africa:Assalamu Alaikum

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