The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Speaker of Parliament has tasked Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda to present before the House an action taken report on the Kibwetere massacre as well as compensation for orphans in the next two weeks.
Rebecca Kadaga made the directive during the Wednesday afternoon plenary session where she communicated a petition from a group of orphans whose parents died on 17th March, 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.
Speaker Kadaga told MPs that the ‘Kanungu Orphans Group’ petitioned her office indicating that they had been denied access to the site were their parents were buried and that no report on the investigations into the fire had been availed to them 20 years later.
She noted that the matter has in the past been discussed severally on the floor of parliament and that a recommendation had been made to provide support to the affected persons.
Kadaga also noted that her letters dated 2nd September 2019 and 17th February 2020 to the Prime Minister were in regard to demands for compensation by the orphans and other survivors.
Kadaga directed that the Prime Minister presents to parliament an action taken report on the matter within a fortnight.
To date, there has not been any prosecution in connection to the Kanungu massacre and none of the cult leaders has been found.
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