Nine years after the March 17, 2000 inferno that claimed about 600 people, the plot on which the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God church stood in Kanungu remains abandoned.

A committee appointed by the government to investigate the incident too never took off because there was no money. For now, the world will never really know the full story of the deadly Kanungu cult.
While Kibwetere and others remain at large, some of the people near the site of the massacre remain traumatised by the incident. One such person is Rev. Canon Tumuhimbise, a clergyman based in Kanungu, who until today cannot eat roasted meat. It reminds him of the hundreds of charred bodies of the victims he saw after the cult followers perished in the inferno.
There had been plans to turn this are into a tourist attraction site, but according to the LC-III chairperson, Godfrey Karabenda, this cannot happen until investigations into the matter have been concluded.

The Kanungu LC-V chairperson, Josephine Kasya, is of the same opinion.
“We have been waiting for the report on the cult by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to develop the area so that it can serve as a reminder to our population and still generate some income through tourism but we have not seen anything,” she said.
However, the bid to turn the area into tourist site will also be undermined by the fact that a lot of what would interest tourists was buried by bulldozers sent to the site immediately after the inferno.

Theresa Kibwetere

For Theresa Kibwetere, the wife of the cult leader, difficult as it may be, she must continue with her life, now in its twilight. Theresa lives alone during the day as her grandchildren are at school. The only items she has for company is her Bible and a hoe.

“That was that and it ended, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I actually don’t wish it to come back into my mind. In any case it happened to us the way it happened,” she says shifting uncomfortably at the mention of the name Kibwetere.
“Now what do you want? He (Kibwetere) died before those people were burnt, they kept silent about it. We only came to know about it later when they had died. I don’t want to say anything any way,” she added.

According to Bedda Beinomugisha, a neighbour, who is also LC-1 chairman of Nyabugoto, Kibwetere had grown very old and weak by the time of the inferno, but he doubts that he had already died.
“Whenever a prominent person died at the church, we would be sent burial invitation cards. When Mwerinde’s father died, we were given cards. I don’t think that Kibwetere had died [then],” Bainemugisha says.
A cultist who spoke on condition of anonymity said those who perished in the fire did not die in vain. He believes they all went to heaven and the cult still stands.

According to this believer, Kibwetere had spent some time outside the church and when he returned in January 2000, he told believers that God had sent a message about the day when He would come in form of fire and take believers to heaven.
“He came out of the roof of our church, and told us that the day is nearing, he was however covered on the face, and he also told us of how the angels are coming in [form of] fire. We had all gathered our clothes and mattresses on the ground where he landed.

“Sometimes I feel that I was left but when I think of how the others went, some fear engulfs me,” he said.
He was not at the church when it burnt.
Some people in Kanungu disagree with Theresa’s claim that her husband, Kibwetere, is dead.

“They packed every detail of theirs and handed them [over] to the RDC at his house—the land title, lists of the names of believers and other books. Only that the person who handed over the items was not a prominent member but they must have escaped,” said Rev. Evas Crammer. She believes the cult leaders are hiding somewhere.

Believers wait

Some surviving believers still cling onto their invitation cards to the March 17, 2000 festival and still hope that one day, the cards will be put to use. As for the Police, their hope is that one day Kibwetere will be arrested to provide more information on the matter, but for now, all that remains a distant dream.

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