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EXACTLY seven years ago on March 17, 2000, more than 500 people perished in an inferno in Kanungu, south western Uganda.

That fateful Saturday is still fresh in the minds of the residents and Ugandans, especially those whose relatives burnt in the fire.

Police investigations after the fire discovered mass graves in different parts of the country, raising the death toll to over 1,000.

Those who died included mainly Ugandan and some Congolese believers in a cult called the 'Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God', a breakaway group from the Roman Catholic Church that sprung up in parts of Western Uganda and Buganda in the late 1980s.

The movement was founded by excommunicated Roman Catholic priests: Joseph Kibweteere, Joseph Kasapurari, John Kamagara and Dominic Kataribabo and the equally excommunicated nun Credonia Mwerinde who was also reportedly an ex-prostitute.

As the name implies, the group emphasised the 10 Commandments though in a rather lopsided way. Believers were not allowed to talk, mainly out of fear of breaking the commandment about giving false witness.

The cult put emphasis on the apocalypse highlighted in their booklet A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of the Present Time. New members were required to study it and be trained in it, reading it as many as six times.

The cult also taught that Mother Mary had a special role in the apocalypse and communicated to the leadership. They looked at themselves as though they were in Noah's Ark; a ship of righteousness in a sea of sin. The cult was so secretive.

The leaders used to promptly pay graduated tax to Kanungu sub-county for all campers in a bid to avoid the sub-county chiefs from visiting to collect tax and probably know other details.

Daily Monitor's Western Bureau Chief FELIX BASIIME, who covered the inferno in 2000, recently met one of the survivors Ponsiano Nuwamanya, 30. Mr Nuwamanya takes us through his days at the Kanungu cult centre up to the day of the inferno and how he narrowly escaped the fire.

QN: Where do you hail from?

Nuwamanya: I was born 30 years ago at Kyeizooba in Bushenyi district in a Catholic family of Mr Thomas Katantari and Mrs Katantari

QN: How did you come to know of Kibwetere's cult and how, when did you join it?

Nuwamanya: I joined the cult in December 1999 when my grand mother Sefuroza Kenyangi from Bunyarigye, Kitabi took me with some other relatives to Kanungu. She was already a member of the cult and we had earlier stayed with her at Kitabi so she came back to sell her property and land before she took us. She convinced us that the world would end with 2000.

QN: What did you experience on your first day at the Kanungu camp?

Nuwamanya: We found a similar doomsday message being preached day in day out at the camp.

QN: What was the arrangement and order at the camp?

Nuwamanya: Women and men sat separately in church and had different dormitories. The new comers would wear black gowns, old members black, while the leaders had white and green gowns.

QN. Did they hold mass only on Sunday?

Nuwamanya: No, it was daily. There was a morning, day time and evening mass mostly led by Mwerinde.

QN: Which other leaders did you see at the camp throughout your time?

Nuwamanya: I saw Kasapurari and Kataribaabo but never Kibwetere during my time there. Although he was always talked about as our leader, I never saw him at all.

QN: Did you know of other branches apart from the Kanungu camp?

Nuwamanya: Yes, but we were not told of their locations. Whenever a member asked about the doomsday or the whereabouts of Kibwetere or the sale of their property, they would be transferred to other branches and would never return.

QN: What was on your daily menu?

Nuwamanya: They used to cook for us Matooke, potatoes, posho with beans mostly for lunch and supper while for breakfast and in the evening porridge was served.

QN: What was your main source of light at the camp?

Nuwamanya: We mainly used tadooba (small wicklamps) and the leaders would provide the paraffin. Inside the church, it was mainly wax candles.

QN: Was your worship style different from that of the Catholic Church?

Nuwamanya: It was basically the same, only that we would worship throughout the week. The leaders emphasised mainly the last five Commandments in the Bible.

QN: What happened in the last week of the cult?

Nuwamanya: Towards the final day, worship was intensified. They were telling us the world was ending very soon so we should dedicate ourselves more with fasting. We had never been told to fast before. On Thursday, we feasted on cows and soda, we prayed and sang throughout day and night.

QN: Take us through the final day, Friday?

Nuwamanya: We started it as usual with breakfast but later we were sprinkled with the blessed water which had a queer smell, different from that which they sprinkled on us daily. Five, 10 and 20 litre jerrycans of the blessed water were placed in the corners of the dormitory we were praying from.

The leaders gave each one of us a candle and match box. We kept singing waiting for Mother Mary to come as we had been told but I later moved out to Kanungu trading centre to buy some cakes for the children who were crying.

QN: Was the blessed water always brought inside your worship place?

Nuwamanya: No, it used to remain in jerrycans in the office.

QN: So what did you think when the water was this time brought inside the church and strategically placed in corners?

Nuwamanya: I just thought that since it was a special day of prayer, we were to use more of the water than usual, so it was brought nearer.

QN: Were you allowed to freely go in and out of the prayer room on that day?

Nuwamanya: Yes, there were no restrictions but before I left for the trading centre, I saw three carpenters nailing the windows from outside while those inside were told to bolt the windows.

QN: What did you think about the unusual act of locking the windows?

Nuwamanya: I thought that may be we were all going to heaven and leaving our building intact and closed. I thought the intention of our leaders was to leave our building locked as we go to heaven. So I hurried to buy the cakes and returned.

QN: What did you see on your return?

Nuwamanya: I saw the building on fire, with flames spreading outside. I came closer and heard people inside yelling for help. I feared and run away for dear life. I run for about 5kms down Kanungu-Kabale road and later sat in the bushes, confused until dusk.

When I regained my senses, I stopped a pick up truck at around 8pm and narrated to the driver everything that had happened at the camp. He took me to his home. I slept there and in the morning, he me gave Shs10,000 to return to my home in Kyeizooba, Bushenyi.

QN: When you found the building on fire, why didn't you join the rest in 'going to heaven?'

Nuwamanya: No, I did not think people go to heaven in fire, so I ran away to save my life.

QN: At home, what was the reception from your parents?

Nuwamanya: My parents cried on seeing me. I narrated the whole story and confirmed to them how all other relatives had died in the fire. My father then slaughtered a goat in jubilation.

QN: Did your leaders die in the fire?

Nuwamanya: No, Mwerinde and Kasapuri had left the camp during day time and were replaced by two new leaders. They told us that they were going to prepare another branch for similar prayers. Kataribaabo had left in the morning ahead of the others.

QN: What did you do after returning home?

Nuwamanya: I tried to return to school but failed due to lack of school fees. I am now a broker at Mbarara bus park with Horizon Transport company.

QN: Where do you worship from, are you still a member of the Kibwetere cult?

Nuwamanya: I returned to the Catholic Church.

QN: What advice do you give Christians and the government over such incidents?

Nuwamanya: People should not be misled by cults. They should stay in their mother churches. And the government should rescue the citizens from churches it feels may be dangerous.