Sembabule Resident District Commissioner, Kamara Bayeye, has attacked religious cults operating in the district, accusing their leaders of undermining government programmes especially the free education system.
In 2011, the police arrested a cult leader identified as Johnson Terebuka, together with his colleagues and some followers, for performing activities similar to those of Joseph Kibwetere’s cult that killed up to 1000 people in Kanungu district in March 2000.
Terebuka’s cult does not allow followers to stay with their husbands or wives and children, eating pork, and use of salt among others.
Kamara Bayeye says Terebuka’s activities have now been banned. He says they are also investigating several other suspicious cults in the district. He notes that they have embarked on serious operations to screen and arrest cult leaders due to the public outcry over suspicious religions and cultism.
Article 29 (c) of the 1995 Constitution provides for freedom of worship.
Bayeye, however, explains that many people including parents have been brain-washed to keep their children out of school. He adds that the cults have affected both the Universal Primary Education and the Universal Secondary Education programmes.
He further says that some cult followers in Nankondo village, Lwebitakuli Sub County force their children into early marriages so as to generate wealth urging them to desist from the practice immediately. He says they are investigating reports that some parents have forced their secondary school girls to give in to the cult heads.
Bayeye adds that the cult leaders in Sembabule have stopped their followers from carrying and using phones, eating pork, using sugar and salt, engaging in politics and taking medication, which is dangerous to society.
Abdullah Kitimbo, the Sembabule district police commander, says police is investigating several suspicious faiths in the district to avoid any eventualities similar to the Kanungu incident.
