When lies lead to more lies: PM Rugunda tasks minister Odongo on Kibwetere Cult massacre
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda
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PM Rugunda tasks minister Odongo on Kibwetere massacre
September 18, 2020 The Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda has
sought parliament’s consideration to have the minister of Internal
Affairs Gen. Jeje Odongo present an action-taken report on the Kibwetere
massacre as well as compensation for the orphans. Parliament
was expecting the premier to present the report on Thursday but in his
absence, the government chief whip Ruth Nankabirwa delivered a message
in which Rugunda seeks to have Odongo present the status report at a
later stage.
This did not go well with speaker Rebecca Kadaga who
noted that parliament had directed Rugunda to present the statement
since a number of her communications to his office on the matter had not
been responded to. But Kadaga hastened to add that minister Odongo
should prepare to present a statement on the matter.
On August 26,
Kadaga gave Rugunda a two-week ultimatum to present before the House an
action taken report on the Kibwetere massacre as well as compensation
for orphans.
She made the directive following a
petition from a group of orphans whose parents died on March 17, 2000,
in a fire blamed on a religious cult known as the Movement for the
Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God led by Joseph Kibwetere.
It
is estimated that 778 believers who had gathered in the church building
in Kanungu were burnt after they allegedly locked themselves inside the
building. The cult believed that the world would come to an end at the
turn of the millennium.
In their petition, the ‘Kanungu Opharns
Group’ indicated that they had been denied access to the site where
their parents were buried and that no report on the investigations into
the fire had been availed to them 20 years later.
Parliament
previously recommended to government to provide support to the affected
persons and according to Kadaga, her letters dated 2nd September 2019
and 17th February 2020 to the prime minister were also in regard to
demands for compensation by the orphans and other survivors.
To
date, there has not been any prosecution in connection to the Kanungu
massacre and none of the cult leaders has been found.