The name Alice Lakwena is still powerful enough in Uganda to instill fear into the hearts of many. Lakwena, born Alice Auma, was a young Acholi woman when she raised up a group of disenfranchised former soldiers and tribesmen to rebel against the Ugandan government.
Her rebel group, the Holy Spirit Mobile Forces, waged a successful war with her troops traveling Gulu district as far south as Magamaga in Jinja. Her fighting tactics were mysterious and shrouded with claims of supernatural support and witchcraft. Her legacy is equally bizarre.
Alice Lakwena is seen as the grandmother of the Acholi rebellion that gave birth to the murderous Lord’s Resistance Army. The ghost of this little-known woman has survived the ages and National Perspective investigates Alice Lakwena’s Ghost.
