Uganda: Religious Sect Stores Dead Bodies
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Vision (Kampala)
10 October 2008
Posted to the web 11 October 2008
Carol Natukunda
Kampala
A RELIGIOUS sect that preserves dead bodies is seeking to build a multi-million dollar autonomous city in Rakai district.
The Sserulanda Spiritual Foundation hopes to turn 200 square miles adjacent to Lake Victoria into a free trade zone, dubbed Ssessamirembe Spiritual City.
The area covers the sub-counties of Kabira, Kakuuto and parts of Kooki.
The group, suspected to be a cult, allows its members to choose whether to be buried or have their bodies preserved and kept in a common room, when they die.
On Wednesday, Saturday Vision saw three of the former members' bodies in a secluded permanent house in Kabira village, about 20 minutes' drive off the Masaka-Rakai highway.
While two of the bodies lay in coffins, another - belonging to a woman - was on a cradle neatly covered with white linen. Beside the bodies were lit candles. An elderly woman clad in gloves and a lesu was treating the bodies. The members strictly prohibit visitors from taking pictures inside the room.
"We can even preserve your smile if you asked to have it preserved," a member told this reporter.
Saturday Vision also saw three grave yards, implying that the majority of the group's members are buried. Some graves were bigger than others.
"Each grave is given a different value, depending on whether the person was an initiate (has spiritual power)," explains the group's general administrator, Sseewabwewi Kyalisiima.
Contrary to common practice where graves are dug, here they are built up to waist level so that the body lies at ground level. This is allegedly to imitate the legendary Egyptian Pyramids.
Sserulanda's members include high-profile personalities such as Gertrude Njuba, a presidential advisor on land matters. It is headed by His Imperishable Glory Ssaabayimiransibo Bambi Baaba Baabuwe, a Ugandan who has been living in the US for the last 15 years.
God in human form
Baaba is said to wield immense power over his followers, who consider him as a "god in human form." He is said to have got a vision as early as three years of age to build a city and eradicate poverty. His real name was Jozzewafe Mugonza, and he grew up as a herbalist, diviner and healer, operating in Kyotera and Kalisizo in Rakai district. He reportedly later linked up with some Indian businessmen in Kyotera who sponsored him to travel to India in 1969. There he went through what his followers call the "12 stages of initiation" and became a "disciple of a divine living Master of Ancient Wisdom". By the late 1970's, he reportedly started buying land from individual households in Rakai, until he was able to secure a vast expanse of land.
When visiting the place, Saturday Vision found a huge plot which has shrubs and scattered shacks. A dusty murram road winds its way through the grass and anthills to a huge shrine, curved out of a rock. The man-made cave has a purple curtain hanging at the entrance. No one enters with shoes. Inside, a fire place is surrounded by dry grass that is carefully spread out for visitors to sit on. The fire burns day and night. In one corner is a portrait of the spiritual leader, Baaba.
Members are strictly forbidden from eating meat or any animal product, and drinking alcohol. This is allegedly in line with the teachings of Baaba, who combines Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and traditional Bachwezi practices in his religion.
Other practices include common ownership of some assets for the "common good" like land, kitchen, cattle kraal, reference library and burial grounds. Though members are allowed to own some personal private property like houses, cars, radios or television sets, they are all required to contribute to the common good.
Anyone who fails to contribute, risks having their membership cancelled or be denied access to communally owned resources.
The group has a charter which specifies how they will govern themselves in the autonomous city, according to information posted on their website www.sseesamirembe.com. They will have powers to enact their own laws, ordinances, by-laws and procedures, as well as provide and maintain a security force for the protection of the inhabitants of the city. Their judicial system will be led by a "High Chancellor" and only permanent residents of the zone will be eligible to hold the office of a "Governing Chancellor". They will provide their own social services and infrastructure, independent of the central Government.
Key projects already planned by the group include an international airport, an airport city, hotels, international schools, shopping malls, business centres and cultural villages. It is planned to accommodate about 500,000 people.
Relevant Links
Chinese investor
|
Read comments. Write your own.
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
How We Can Benefit from the Lessons of Barack Obama's Victorious Campaign and Election
Barack Obama and Agents of Intolerance in Uganda: A View From America
I write to strongly object to the scurrilous characterizations of the Sserulanda Spiritual Fraternal Order that have been made by enemies of economic development (particularly when it is not their personal initiative), and by some religious bigots with hidden agendas to discredit and destroy anything that differs. I also object to slanted presentations by some newspaper journalists who seem to intentionally provide a negative, bizarre, and extreme picture of Sserulanda and… [Read Full Text]