THE Government has been asked not to allow the Free trade Zone to operate since its promoters are the leaders of the Serulanda spiritual foundation a religious sect.
By Darious Magara
THE Government has been asked not to allow the Free trade Zone to operate since its promoters are the leaders of the Serulanda spiritual foundation a religious sect.
Bjorn Francis Simensen, from Norway but Ugandan citizen, told the Serulanda probe commission on Thursday that the sect is dangerous and needs to be checked.
He said the sect leader Bambi Baaba is regarded as a god by his followers and possesses ‘supernatural powers’ which he uses to control them.
“If the government allows the trade zone, which is part of the Ssesamirembe spiritual city, it will be impossible to separate the various activities and it will be a recipe for disaster,†he said.
Simensen said the sect’s strange practices include; preserving bodies, mysterious deaths of some members and burial rituals citing the mysterious death of Hajj Sadi.
Simensen, one of former major financiers of the group, said he had lost his property and business when he joined the cult in 1981.
He said he left the sect in 1986 after Astro the company he had founded had contracted debts to a tune of $500,000 which he later struggled and paid off.
Simensen an engineer now working with Steel Works Ltd is one of the former directors of Astro steel works a company that he handed over to Serulanda leadership.