The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God Indicted

The Uganda Human Rights Commission

Periodical Report

First published 2002

This publication may be quoted or reproduced with full acknowledgement of the Uganda Human Rights Commission.

CONTENTS

1. Background to the Report

2. Places/Scenes Visited

3. The Cult’s Origins and Characteristics

4. The Cult’s Doctrine

5. The Cult and Violation of Human Rights

6. Signs of Discontent and Resistance within the Cult Membership

7. Recommendations

8. List of People Interviewed

9. Appendices

I: Lt E. Baryaruha’s letter to his brother

II: Y.K. Kamacerere former Rukungiri CGR’s (now RDC) letter to the NGO

Registration Board

III: Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Cult

IV: Press Release: The Kanungu Tragedy

Uganda is a secular state for which the national Constitution prescribes no state religion. Every Ugandan is free to subscribe to whatever faith or religion they want. And the government of Uganda has had minimal if any, interference into the citizens’ freedom of worship and religion. It is only during the period 1971-78 that the state meddled in the religious affairs of the nation by declaring that only four religions namely Islam, the Catholic Church, Church of Uganda, and the Uganda Orthodox Church were official.

Since then and until recently the issue of freedom of religion in Uganda hardly raised any national controversy. Government treated it as the private matter without intervening directly by banning religions or sects, or discreetly by restricting their registration. All indications were that government totally respected the right of worship and freedom of religion.

The philosophy behind freedom of religion has been the rationality of human beings and their ability to be masters of their own destiny. Human beings are believed to be endowed with a special quality to think and reason therefore having the ability to decide how they want to worship in accordance with each one’s conscience. It is this conscience that inform how, when, why one relates to the super natural arena. In all this the human being is expected to know and be mindful of the boundary of this freedom: where it begins to violate another person’s rights.

It was with shock that the world woke up to the events of 17 March 2000, when more than 500 members of a locally based cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, perished in an inferno in Kanungu, southwestern Uganda. The equally shocking developments that subsequently unfolded confirmed that the freedom of worship had been taken for granted and this was obviously detrimental.

Following the incident, the Uganda Human Rights Commission drawing on its constitutional mandate, immediately set up a team to assess the possible causes and the human rights implications of the tragedy. Article 52(2) of the Constitution of Uganda requires that “The Uganda Human Rights Commission shall publish periodical reports on its findings and submit annual reports to Parliament on the state of human rights and freedoms in the country”. The publication of this report is in line with this provision.

The report presents findings from the on-the-spot assessment by the Commission team; the interviews with former members of the cult, their neighbours and friends; the local political and religious leaders in areas where the cult operated and the district authorities. The findings are presented together with statistics on the extent of the human rights violations.

The Commission was able to draw specific conclusions from these findings, which formed the basis for the recommendations made to Government and other relevant authorities in this periodical report. Our prayer is that the government and all Ugandans pay special attention to the issues raised in the report and take appropriate action so that the rights that were violated in the Kanungu tragedy are safeguarded.

We are aware that our investigation into the Kanungu incident was just one of many efforts that were launched following the incident. Notable among which is the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Government. We hope this report provides information and lessons that will be found very useful by this Commission of Inquiry and all those interested particularly human rights advocates and researchers and that it will help illuminate and transform the context in which freedom of worship has hitherto been regarded in this country.

On 17 March 2000 over 500 people were burnt to death in Kanungu, Rukungiri (now Kanungu) District. It was reported that those who were burnt belonged to a religious cult calling itself the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God led by Joseph Kibwetere, Credonia Mwerinde, Angelina Mugisha, Fr Joseph Kasapurari and Fr Dominic Kataribabo. At first it was assumed that the Kanungu massacre was mass suicide by the members of the cult who were convinced about going to heaven through fire but later it was established that it was planned and executed by the cult leadership. The victims of the inferno included children too young to make independent decisions.

Before the dust could settle after the Kanungu tragedy, it was discovered that many more people belonging to the same cult had died and been secretly buried in other camps outside Kanungu including Bushenyi and Buziga near Kampala. By the end of March the death toll of the cult members had risen to about 1000 people. Indeed, it is conceivable that if government had not suspended exhumation of such bodies the number would have even been higher.

The Kanungu tragedy and its aftermath invariably generated national and international concern. It was against this background that the Human Rights Commission found it necessary to investigate the incident to be able to comment or advise, in the context of the right of worship and its general implications on the tragedy for the future of human rights in Uganda. Accordingly, the Commission resolved that in order to authoritatively render such advice about the existing and emerging cults in relation to the right to worship, it was necessary for the Commission to carry out its own investigations to establish facts surrounding the cult and the circumstances that led to the mass murder without raising any suspicion. The Commission therefore selected a team to carry out the investigation and report the findings. The team members were:

Commissioner C. K. Karusoke: Head of the Team (Commissioner in charge of Complaints and Investigations)

Burhan Byenkya: Chief Investigations Officer (Head of Department, Complaints and Investigations)

Nathan Byamukama: Research Officer and Secretary to the Team (Head of Monitoring and Treaties Department)

Joseph Ndebwoha: Photographer to the Team (in charge of stores)

Siraji Mugisa: Driver

Terms of reference for the fact-finding team were as follows:

i. To visit all possible scenes of the tragedy (murder) involving followers of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God.

ii. To search for all possible information about the cult from at least five people within the neighbourhood of each scene visited including:

- LC I and II officials

- Police

- Religious leaders

- Opinion leaders

- Neighbours.

iii. To take photographs of the scenes, mass graves, etc. to be kept in the Uganda Human Rights Commission photo archives for future use.

iv. To take video recordings of the scenes visited and the people interviewed.

v. To collect any possible written literature of and about the cult.

vi. To examine the register containing the particulars (of names, age, sex, location, occupation, education background) of members of the cult who died/were killed which the police are compiling.

vii.To interview the LC5 Chairperson, RDC, DPC, DISO and CAO of Rukungiri District about the history, operations, behaviour and conduct of this cult and its leaders.

viii.To write a full account of what happened, why it happened and lessons drawn from the tragedy which should be used for the protection of human rights and peoples’ education on the proper use and expression of the freedom of religious beliefs.

ix. To develop the findings into an official report to Government and the people of Uganda. The report should be such that it contributes to the Commission of Enquiry by Government into this matter.

x. To brief the entire staff (of the Human Rights Commission)

These teachers were cult members and they too lived in the camp. It is likely that they also died in the inferno. It is said that cult members used to build their own houses. They were their own architects, masons and carpenters. It is even believed that the carpenter who sealed off the church before the explosion and the fire was part of the cult members that perished at Nyabugoto.

Property of the cult in Kanungu

The cult had a big farm at their headquarters where they grew food and kept animals – mainly cattle. Before they sold their animals and burnt people, they had over 60 head of cattle. It is said that before 17 March 2000 they had sold off all the animals so cheaply to the surprise of most people. The local residents say that a cow which would have ordinarily been sold for about Shs.300,000/= (three hundred thousand) was going for as little as Shs.100,000/= (one hundred thousand) or less. They had two shops in the nearby Kanungu trading centre whose merchandise was also cheaply sold off before 17 March 2000. Only the land was not sold. They deposited the title deed of their land and other documents with the police at Kanungu for safe custody.

2.2 Kanungu Local Administration Prison

The team visited Kanungu Local Administration Prison to find out who of the prisoners exhumed bodies. The team established that 15 prisoners were taken to Nyabugoto from Kanungu prison to help in exhuming six bodies and reburying them, and to dig the mass grave and bury the burnt bodies. The prisoners had helped the Fire Brigade personnel to do all this for three days from 17 to 19 March 2000 using a grader. They explained that the Fire Brigade personnel used to go down in the grave where the bodies lay, tie a rope around a body which then would be pulled out by prisoners. They pulled out six dead bodies, carried them to a newly dug grave and reburied them. They said they wore gloves but had no gumboots. They informed the team that the bodies that were exhumed had decomposed beyond recognition. The prisoners said after burying the bodies they went back to prison and bathed with soap. The team was able to talk to four convicted prisoners out of the fifteen who had participated in this exercise at Nyabugoto – Kanungu. They were:

This is about 8 kilometres from Rukungiri town off Rukungiri-Ishaka road. At this site 153 bodies had been buried, exhumed and reburied on the orders of the police. According to Emmy Twagira, the District Security Officer (DISO), Rukungiri, 59 of the victims were children while 94 were adults, majority of whom were women. Three bodies had fractured skulls, 21 had signs of strangulation and one had signs of stabbing. There were three mass graves in the house used by cult leaders which doubled as residence and offices. In one of the rooms there were two graves. A third grave was in another room. There were about eight old graves in a banana garden in front of the houses which had not been opened up. Villagers told the team that these were of people who died long before the Kanungu tragedy and had been buried with the knowledge of local LC officials and neighbours.

Busharizi, the owner of this home and land, and head of the household, himself was not a member of the cult and had shifted with another wife to Bwambara, leaving behind his senior wife and children. After the departure of the husband, Mrs Verentina Busharizi, and most of her children, all of whom were adults (like Topista, Puritazio, Anatori and Jesenta), joined the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. They surrendered the house to the cult. This place was a transit centre to Kanungu. This family alone lost six people excluding Topista who had died earlier but buried in Kanungu. Topista was one of the preachers. It is said that Topista is the one who brought the cult from Fr Ikazire in Bunyaruguru to this area. According to Mary Rubarema, the LC-I Vice Chairperson, Topista, the daughter of Busharizi, used to stay at Fr Ikazire’s place and she “even got pregnant from there”. She and her child became sick and later died. According to Mary Rubarema, Topista used to collect herbs from the area and take them to Fr Ikazire’s place in Bunyaruguru.

The property of the cult in Buhunga

Before this group (Busharizi family and many other cult members) left for Kanungu on 13 March 2000, they had sold all their property including a very big fenced piece of land. The neighbours said that such land would have cost over 10 million shillings in Rukungiri but they sold it at only four million shillings. They sold off the iron sheets. The remaining grass-thatched houses that were being used as the church were burnt in the night following the Kanungu inferno. It is not clear who burnt this camp. According to Mary Rubarema, a neighbour near the road, a vehicle came in the night, past midnight, shortly after it had returned from the camp people noticed that the churches and other houses were on fire. There was suspicion that whoever set the houses on fire must have been one of the cult members/leaders.

2.4 Rukungiri Central Government Prison

At Rukungiri Central Government Prison, the team wanted to establish how the prisoners were used in the exhumation of bodies. Caleb Twikirize, the Officer in-Charge prison at Rukungiri, confirmed that 20 prisoners from his prison were used in the exhumation of bodies in Kanungu and 20 exhumed bodies in Buhunga. Some healthy and energetic prisoners had been used to exhume bodies in both places. He informed the team that the District Medical Officer (DMO) gave these prisoners gloves and “heavy duty gumboots”. Twikirize said the prisoners did not lift the bodies. They only removed the earth from the grave and they washed themselves at the gate before returning to prison. A doctor had come to check the health of prisoners who had exhumed the bodies and had declared them “fine”.

According to the prisoners themselves, they were given gloves but of poor quality. They used clinical gloves, which got torn, as they pulled bodies with ropes from the graves. Although they had the gumboots, they had to put off their shirts, which meant that apart from the feet and to some extent the hands, they were not covered and this got them into contact with decomposing bodies. The prisoners complained of nightmares and one of them was still occasionally vomiting when the team visited the prison.

In Rukungiri Government Prison, there were prisoners who participated in exhuming bodies from Nyabugoto–Kanungu only, from both Nyabugoto and Buhunga and then Buhunga only as indicated below:

Prisoners who worked in Nyabugoto–Kanungu only

Name Age Case/allegation

1. Ambrose Byomuhangi 22 Robbery

2. Patrick Behakanisa 34 Theft

3. Suragi Monday 20 Robbery

4. Kenneth Mutegaya 22 Murder

5. Justus Beingana 21 Robbery

6. Venancio Besigye 25 Murder

7. Erasmus Tweheyo 18 Defilement

Prisoners who worked in Buhunga only

In Buhunga, the prisoners had gloves and gumboots. They were the only people who exhumed the 153 bodies, dug fresh graves and reburied them. They removed the shirts even when they had the gloves and gumboots. Those who worked in Buhunga are:

Name Age Case/allegation

1. Julius Birungi 28 Robbery

2. Martin Karyaija 20 Murder

3. Wilber Kizito 20 Murder

4. Jack Kamugisha 27 Robbery

5. Ronald Byaruhanga 17 Murder

6. Colins Bashaija 25 Murder

7. Moses Muhwezi 22 Theft

8. Godfrey Barindwa 38 Robbery

9. Francis Ntanda 47 Burglary

10. Stanley Shariff 40 Theft

11. Wilbrod Mugambagye 20 Graduated Tax defaulting

12. Benon Tumwakire 17 Rape

13. Emmanuel Bainobwengye 25 Murder

14. George Kobusheshe 27 Defilement

15. Gerosome Nuwagaba 20 Murder

Prisoners who exhumed bodies in both Kanungu and Buhunga

Name Age Case/allegation

1. Milton Muhairwe

34 Rape - on remand

2. Onerius Nuwagaba 18 Defilement

3. Muhairwe Wilber 19 Defilement

4. Alex Ngabirano 18 Defilement

5. Geoffrey Turyasingura

18 Murder

6. Wilber Kamusiime 18 Defilement.

According to this group, at Kanungu they did not have gumboots. They only had gloves.

In general there were fewer gloves and gumboots for all those who took part in exhuming and reburying of the bodies. For example, prisoners said four people in Kanungu and eight in Buhunga did not have gumboots.

2.5 Kibwetere’s Home Site

Kibwetere’s home is in Kabumba village, Nyabihoko Sub-county, Kajara County, Ntungamo District. This was also one of the sites of the cult up to 1992 when one of Kibwetere’s sons, Juvenal Rugambwa, chased them away. The team reached Kibwetere’s home on 18 April 2000 at around 5.20 pm and found his wife, Tereza Kibwetere, alone in a house of 24 bedrooms. Tereza Kibwetere was praying alone in the house when the team arrived there. According to her, she had separated from her husband as long ago as July 1992, a year the cult members were chased away from her home. When they separated she moved to Kampala to stay with some of her children. Tereza had 10 children with Kibwetere excluding three who died and three others whom Kibwetere got outside wedlock. The members of the Kibwetere family did not suspect any mass grave at their place because by the time they were chased away in 1992, the culture of killing by the cult had not started. According to Tereza, the cult members came and stayed at their place in 1989 but they, including Kibwetere himself started keeping mum and behaving in an unusual manner. Tereza had joined the cult and become a very active member until she defected in 1992 when the cult leaders burnt her clothes and her husband started selling family property and surrendering all proceeds to the cult.

Kibwetere’s property and the cult

According to Tereza, the family had a Toyota Stout pick-up, a very big farm with cows and goats, two plots of land in Ntungamo town, one with a building in which there were, among other things, a refrigerator and a cooker. She says they sold off all these properties, leaving the family with the house, a few cows and the farm where they now keep around 20 Friesian cows. She said that one of the many reasons for abandoning the cult was Kibwetere’s selling of family property with impunity. Tereza was convinced that if her son had not evicted the cult from their home all the family property would have been sold off.

2.6 Elly Baryaruha’s residence

The Commission’s fact finding team went to Elly Baryaruha’s residence in Nyaruzinga, Bushenyi District on 19 April 2000. Baryaruha was a former NRA soldier No.RA 7434. It is said he was at the rank of Lieutenant when he retired. It is highly suspected that he also died in the Kanungu inferno. He was the son of Eric Mahija. According to Elly’s sister, Rosemary Tumusiime (40 years), the family lost eleven people (including Elly and his mother) who went to Kanungu and never came back. Elly Baryaruha’s place was also a transit centre and had all the characteristics of other cult centres. It is not known whether the place was also a killing ground but that cannot be ruled out. It is said that Baryaruha and his group left four days before the Kanungu inferno. Baryaruha left two young kids with his niece, Grace Naturinda, who was 17 years old but who also has a child of her own, less than one year old. The parents or the whereabouts of the young children, Rachel (2 years) and another only known as “Boy”, who was about nine months old, are also not known. Neither is it known where they were born. These children need help because Rosemary Tumusiime and her daughter, Grace Naturinda, cannot afford to look after them (the children).

Baryaruha and those who disappeared/died with him

People from Baryaruha’s family who went away to Kanungu and could have died in the inferno include:

-Lt Eric Baryaruha – the NRA soldier turned cult member

-Josephine Kyenderesire – mother of Lt Baryaruha

-Rachel Baryaruha – daughter of Lt Baryaruha

-Gerald Baryaruha – son of Lt Baryaruha

-Slivia Baryaruha – wife of Lt Baryaruha

-Judy Atuhaire – close relative

-John Mary Goodluck

-Francis

-Amina and

-Joseph Anthony

All these together with many other members of the cult had left Nyaruzinga for Kanungu four days before the inferno. According to his sister Rosemary, a vehicle came and picked Lt Baryaruha a day after all the other members of the cult had departed. He left Shs.5000 (five thousand) and some food for his niece, Grace, “until he comes back”. But, at the same time he left a written message to his brother, Babijugute, which reads as follows:

The Babijugutes (Babijugute is Baryaruha’s brother who lives a few metres away from his house)

I have felt it ungodly and on the other hand inhuman to go away forever without a word of farewell. Now this is to say farewell to the whole family and if you do not see me once again, then do not ask! Throughout my 38 years (of) existence, I might have sinned venerably or gravely (mortally) against some members or all of the family, and as per now, I request kindly to be pardoned.

I have hardly remained with over 10 days here before I join all the other members of the Restoration of the 10 Commandments of God before the closure of the “ARK”. That will mean therefore, that we shall never meet once again. To me, it sounds sad but that is what it must be. As we follow directives from Heaven, we are supposed to gather in the selected area before the wrath of the Almighty God the creator is let down on to non-repentants.

Keep my words on your hearts, there will never be the year 2001. Catastrophes will befall human kind and the indicators of such will be wars, crime increase such as murder, rape, robbery, etc. there will be a lot of fear among the human races! Appearance of strange animals and people will be noticed. I would request you that if you come across such, simply run and look for me. I will not fail to seek refuge for you. Whoever wanted his brother or family to perish? Do not stick to property. Simply leave it behind and run for your dear (life) I will always pray for you, as I have nothing else I can do! May God guide you!

THE KANUNGU MASSACRE

Periodical Report

People could see that they (cult) were being odd but they were given the benefit of the doubt.

Mr A. Rutaroh (LC5 Chairperson, Rukungiri)

Name Age Case/allegation