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A new Ugandan religion prohibits any kind of registration

By YUSUFU BWANIKA

A decade has elapsed since the massacre of one thousand people in the guise of worship by Joseph Kibwetere. Today the tragedy of Kanungu is still stuck in the minds of many Ugandans. The stream of tears that came from their eyes still flows towards the victims. Nevertheless, the country remains quite a fertile ground for the growth of such cults, and Nyangakiibo is the latest.

The cult in the Rubirizi District of western Uganda has so far attracted more than 30 families. The propagators of this new faith have been preaching secretly and winning over converts. The name of the cult Nyangakiibo comes from two Runyankore words, nyanga and akiibo, which literally mean rejecting the calabash (container).

The sect seems to be a breakaway from Christianity and therefore a protest against some acts and rituals performed in the church.

A related sect is Nyanga obusera, which is reported to have originated from the suburbs of Kamwenge district in western Uganda. Its name literally means rejecting the porridge. Both Nyanga obusera and Nyangakiibo are not so distant from each other in terms of beliefs and geographical location, though the former is more extreme.

Some of the core beliefs of the Nyangakiibo include protesting against any kind of registration and formalization. Their students are not allowed in school nor are they allowed to register in any government programme. Those who do business try by all means to evade taxes so as to save their names and properties from registration.

They look at computers as satanic facilities which the devil uses to record his allies. As I walked through the streets of Kanyinya village in Rubirizi, I was led to a man who has lived on buying second hand motorcycles, despite his ability to buy a new one, for fear of registering his name.

In this remote area residents lack enough knowledge to get them out of their ignorance; the few who afford radios cannot afford batteries. The low-quality radios they afford access only local stations, which only reinforce local beliefs.

Unlike the Faith of Unity, another indigenous Ugandan religion that emerged three decades ago at the hands of Owobusobozi Bisaka, Nyangakiibo is a small and slowly growing religion. Its missionaries have hardly gone beyond its birthplace.

Bisaka, on the other hand, has appointed many prophets throughout the western region and constructed a number of prayer centers. His apostles have conducted various campaigns and preaching, including hunting down devils which allegedly disturb people near the Maramagambo Forest.

After repulsing these evil spirits, usually the preachers conclude with a crusade in the area in which they attribute the evil spirits to the failure of the people to understand their lord Bisaka.  It should be noted that the major attribute of this charlatan is Owobusobozi, which literally means the almighty.

Many people have come up to claim prophethood all over the world. But few have dared to call themselves the supreme God, like Bisaka has done. He has printed his own literature and he has got his own ‘divine’ scripture. Bisaka’s religion operates legally in Uganda and he’s granted security by the government.

The aim of many of these imposters, including Bisaka and Kibwetere, is to rob their followers of wealth. But the motive of barring people from all kinds of registration, as Nyangakiibo has done, is quite unclear.