The Chwezi seer who uses the Bible
Mar 12, 2003
FROM a distance, one could mistake the hundreds of grass-thatched huts on a low-lying hillside, for a makeshift military camp.
By Grace Matsiko
FROM a distance, one could mistake the hundreds of grass-thatched huts on a low-lying hillside, for a makeshift military camp. But the huts are home to over 1,000 believers of self-styled prophetess and spiritual healer, Nabasa Gwajwa.
Three tall, young men man the entrance to the cult headquarters called ‘Irembo,’ in Ntutsi, Sembabule District, 90km from Masaka.
Once inside the camp, do not expect answers to any questions. The followers of Nabasa fear some mysterious eye is looking at them and listening. “Even before you set off from Kampala she knew,†says one of the boys.
Nabasa claims to have had a spiritual encounter with an angel in the late 1990’s. She also says she has powers from the Bachwezi, an ancient dynasty believed to have been semi-gods, who once ruled Western Uganda in the early 15th Century.
At the entrance of the camp, one has to part with sh40,000 to enter, an increment of 300%, from the last time I visited, two years ago.
The cult has weathered several raids from security personnel following the mass murder of members of Joseph Kibwetere’s cult in Kanungu, in March 1998.
Nabasa, a primary seven dropout, was arrested with her father Charles Gwajwa and charged with running an illegal society. The state later withdrew the case.
Nabasa’s father says she got her supernatural powers after she died and ‘resurrected’ four days later, in September 1996.
Ever since, Nabasa has held the Bible in one hand and ministered the ancestral Chwezi powers with the other.
With poor sanitation and no security at the camp, Local Council officials worry about the safety of her followers. On the average, over 300 people share only one pit latrine. The nearest water source a dug-out well, half a kilometre away, is shared with livestock.
Local Council officials fear that with the advancing rains, there is a high risk of a cholera outbreak in the camp, especially at the beginning of the month, when kuhasirira a cleansing ritual, attracts over 2,000 people to the camp.
The ritual involves mixing water with with herbs that Nabasa then sprinkles on her followers, to chase away evil spirits. The concoction is also drunk by the believers. During the cleansing ritual, each clan lights a bonfire. The believers then gather around them so that the spirits can share the warmth of the fire and bless them.
Although no one has died yet as a result of the bonfires, last year the fire razed 300 huts.
The believers, who range from the very young to the very old come from as far as Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
Hassan Galiwango, the Resident District Commissioner, says Nabasa has taken advantage of the community’s belief in the Bachwezi dynasty to lure them into the cult.
He says having hundreds of idle people at the camp has affected the economy of the district.
In order to increase the numbers, Nabasa has volunteer agents in Kampala and many other towns who publicise her powers.
But with a number of defections from most of her long time believers, Nabasa’s powers have been put to test.
Some of the defectors, who are government officials but fear to come out openly, accuse her of fleecing them of millions of shillings. They say she uses the cult as source of income.
“When she began in 1996, she was very poor, her father rode a bike but now they have both bought vehicles. They have expanded their farm and built a big family house as well,†say a former believer.
“On a normal working day, Nabasa, earns about sh800,000 from a maximum of 20 ‘patients’ she attends to in addition to entrance fees to the camp,†said one of her aides.
A wife of a prominent businessman in Kampala, who went to Nabasa because she was barren, said Nabasa promised that she would bare a child, after previous futile attempts in various local and overseas hospitals.
“I abandoned my home for close to two years. After some time, I saw a bulge. My husband and relatives were very excited. We bought maternity dresses. But the bulge vanished,†she says with remorse. “I will never forget the embarrassment I went through,†she adds with tears rolling down her cheeks.
A graduate of Makerere University after being jobless for a long time, was told by one of Nabasa’s followers that the prophetess would get him a powerful job. He stayed at the camp for a year, but got nothing after spending all his money.
John Mwesigye, an ardent believer says: “People fail to get what they want because they lack faith in Nabasa’s powers.â€
But the recent deaths of two believers in the camp have made believers doubt her powers and many have started defecting.
“If she claims she can foretell things, how come people are dying in the camp. Why couldn’t she foresee the deaths and advise us,†says one disillusioned believer. He says, the bodies of those who die in the camp, are not supposed to stay there overnight.
The mourners go through a cleansing ritual after they return from the funeral and Nabasa suspends work for four days. According to the believers, during the funeral they are not supposed to eat any meat.
Some believers say Nabasa does not allow the believers to go to hospitals when they are faced with life threatening diseases. A young man from Luweero was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He had began getting treatment from a hospital but abandoned it for a ‘better cure’ in Ntutsi.
At the camp, he was told that “he was unclean and living in sin,†and had to go through cleansing process. He was then put on herbal treatment and a daily dose of cleansing. But only got weaker and almost died.
His brother dragged him out of the camp amid threats from the cult leaders. A doctor in a clinic in Kampala, were he was treated says he was brought on the verge of death. He has since recovered but is still traumatised by the experience.
During the Justice Julia Sebutinde probe into the Police force, many police officers visited the cult for protection against prosecution.
Herman Ssentongo, Sembabule’s LCV Chairman, says they are baffled by the legal status of Nabasa’s congregation especially after the government closed it. “As long as there is no violence and violation of human rights we cannot take measures against her,†says Ssentongo.
Emmanuel Damba, the district health inspector, says: “The camp is not registered. It is actually a controversial one because important government officials go there. We are concerned about the safety of people but so far we cannot do much.â€
Local officials say the Uganda Revenue Authority is not aware about the large sums of money that change hands at the camp. “It is a business, so why don’t they pay taxes. She earns millions every week,†said a local official.
FROM a distance, one could mistake the hundreds of grass-thatched huts on a low-lying hillside, for a makeshift military camp. But the huts are home to over 1,000 believers of self-styled prophetess and spiritual healer, Nabasa Gwajwa.
Three tall, young men man the entrance to the cult headquarters called ‘Irembo,’ in Ntutsi, Sembabule District, 90km from Masaka.
Once inside the camp, do not expect answers to any questions. The followers of Nabasa fear some mysterious eye is looking at them and listening. “Even before you set off from Kampala she knew,†says one of the boys.
Nabasa claims to have had a spiritual encounter with an angel in the late 1990’s. She also says she has powers from the Bachwezi, an ancient dynasty believed to have been semi-gods, who once ruled Western Uganda in the early 15th Century.
At the entrance of the camp, one has to part with sh40,000 to enter, an increment of 300%, from the last time I visited, two years ago.
The cult has weathered several raids from security personnel following the mass murder of members of Joseph Kibwetere’s cult in Kanungu, in March 1998.
Nabasa, a primary seven dropout, was arrested with her father Charles Gwajwa and charged with running an illegal society. The state later withdrew the case.
Nabasa’s father says she got her supernatural powers after she died and ‘resurrected’ four days later, in September 1996.
Ever since, Nabasa has held the Bible in one hand and ministered the ancestral Chwezi powers with the other.
With poor sanitation and no security at the camp, Local Council officials worry about the safety of her followers. On the average, over 300 people share only one pit latrine. The nearest water source a dug-out well, half a kilometre away, is shared with livestock.
Local Council officials fear that with the advancing rains, there is a high risk of a cholera outbreak in the camp, especially at the beginning of the month, when kuhasirira a cleansing ritual, attracts over 2,000 people to the camp.
The ritual involves mixing water with with herbs that Nabasa then sprinkles on her followers, to chase away evil spirits. The concoction is also drunk by the believers. During the cleansing ritual, each clan lights a bonfire. The believers then gather around them so that the spirits can share the warmth of the fire and bless them.
Although no one has died yet as a result of the bonfires, last year the fire razed 300 huts.
The believers, who range from the very young to the very old come from as far as Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
Hassan Galiwango, the Resident District Commissioner, says Nabasa has taken advantage of the community’s belief in the Bachwezi dynasty to lure them into the cult.
He says having hundreds of idle people at the camp has affected the economy of the district.
In order to increase the numbers, Nabasa has volunteer agents in Kampala and many other towns who publicise her powers.
But with a number of defections from most of her long time believers, Nabasa’s powers have been put to test.
Some of the defectors, who are government officials but fear to come out openly, accuse her of fleecing them of millions of shillings. They say she uses the cult as source of income.
“When she began in 1996, she was very poor, her father rode a bike but now they have both bought vehicles. They have expanded their farm and built a big family house as well,†say a former believer.
“On a normal working day, Nabasa, earns about sh800,000 from a maximum of 20 ‘patients’ she attends to in addition to entrance fees to the camp,†said one of her aides.
A wife of a prominent businessman in Kampala, who went to Nabasa because she was barren, said Nabasa promised that she would bare a child, after previous futile attempts in various local and overseas hospitals.
“I abandoned my home for close to two years. After some time, I saw a bulge. My husband and relatives were very excited. We bought maternity dresses. But the bulge vanished,†she says with remorse. “I will never forget the embarrassment I went through,†she adds with tears rolling down her cheeks.
A graduate of Makerere University after being jobless for a long time, was told by one of Nabasa’s followers that the prophetess would get him a powerful job. He stayed at the camp for a year, but got nothing after spending all his money.
John Mwesigye, an ardent believer says: “People fail to get what they want because they lack faith in Nabasa’s powers.â€
But the recent deaths of two believers in the camp have made believers doubt her powers and many have started defecting.
“If she claims she can foretell things, how come people are dying in the camp. Why couldn’t she foresee the deaths and advise us,†says one disillusioned believer. He says, the bodies of those who die in the camp, are not supposed to stay there overnight.
The mourners go through a cleansing ritual after they return from the funeral and Nabasa suspends work for four days. According to the believers, during the funeral they are not supposed to eat any meat.
Some believers say Nabasa does not allow the believers to go to hospitals when they are faced with life threatening diseases. A young man from Luweero was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He had began getting treatment from a hospital but abandoned it for a ‘better cure’ in Ntutsi.
At the camp, he was told that “he was unclean and living in sin,†and had to go through cleansing process. He was then put on herbal treatment and a daily dose of cleansing. But only got weaker and almost died.
His brother dragged him out of the camp amid threats from the cult leaders. A doctor in a clinic in Kampala, were he was treated says he was brought on the verge of death. He has since recovered but is still traumatised by the experience.
During the Justice Julia Sebutinde probe into the Police force, many police officers visited the cult for protection against prosecution.
Herman Ssentongo, Sembabule’s LCV Chairman, says they are baffled by the legal status of Nabasa’s congregation especially after the government closed it. “As long as there is no violence and violation of human rights we cannot take measures against her,†says Ssentongo.
Emmanuel Damba, the district health inspector, says: “The camp is not registered. It is actually a controversial one because important government officials go there. We are concerned about the safety of people but so far we cannot do much.â€
Local officials say the Uganda Revenue Authority is not aware about the large sums of money that change hands at the camp. “It is a business, so why don’t they pay taxes. She earns millions every week,†said a local official.