On 17 March 2000, followers of the religious movement died in a fire and a series of poisonings and killings, which were initially considered a mass suicide.
[1] In this void, many post-Catholic groups formed in the late eighties as a confused and traumatized populace turned to charismatic self-declared messiahs who renounced the authority of the government and the Church.
[3][4] The MRTC has been classified as an African-initiated church; a highly diverse category of religious movements that stem from different Christian traditions.
[4][5] However, historian of religion Jean-François Mayer has argued that they cannot be only understood within this framework, because the group had connections to a network of Marian visionaries and many of its leaders were Catholic clergymen.
[10] In 1989 the two met and formed the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God,[11] with the mission to spread the Virgin's message about the apocalypse.
The group grew rapidly and also attracted several defrocked Catholic priests and nuns who worked as theologians, rationalizing messages from the leadership.
[12][11] The group had been called an inward-looking movement that wore matching uniforms and restricted their speech to avoid saying anything dishonest or sinful.
[11] The sect grew in importance with the arrival of Dominic Kataribabo, a respected and popular priest with a PhD from a university in the United States.
[8] In 1992 the group was ordered out of Rwashamaire by village elders, and moved to Kanungu District, where Mwerinde's father offered an extensive property for their use.
In 1998, the Ugandan press reported that the Movement had been shut down for unsanitary conditions, use of child labor, and possibly kidnapping children, but the sect was allowed by the government to reopen.
"[14] With the new year looming, activity by Movement members became frenzied, their leaders urged them to confess their sins in preparation for the end.
[8] Minutes after the members arrived at the party, nearby villagers heard an explosion, and the building was gutted in an intense fire that killed all 530 in attendance.
Several days before, Movement leader Dominic Kataribabo had been seen buying 50 liters of sulfuric acid, which may have started the fire.
Four days after the church fire, police investigated Movement properties and discovered hundreds of bodies at sites across southern Uganda.
[19] This version of events has been criticised, most notably by Irving Hexham,[20] and a Ugandan source states that even as of 2007 "no one can really explain the whys, hows, whats, where, when, et cetera.
"[21] Minutes after the members arrived at the party, nearby villagers heard an explosion, and the building was gutted in an intense fire that killed all 530 in attendance.
[5] Ugandan Bernard Atahuire, who lost several family members in the incident and who wrote a book on the case, The Uganda Cult Tragedy: A Private Investigation, bemoaned the fact that "[t]he interest shown by researchers is [...] miserably low.
They believe that the failure of the doomsday prophecy led to a revolt in the ranks of the sect, and the leaders set a new date with a plan to eliminate their followers.
[15] The discovery of bodies at other sites,[16] the fact the church had been boarded up, the presence of incendiaries, and the possible disappearance of sect leaders all point to this theory.
[4] John Walliss, in a 2014 analysis of the hypotheses relating to the group, viewed Vokes' theory as the most convincing, though noted future evidence could dispute it.
Vice president Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe said, "These were callously, well-orchestrated mass murders perpetrated by a network of diabolic, malevolent criminals masquerading as religious people.
"[15] Although it was initially assumed that the five leaders died in the fire, police now believe that Joseph Kibweteere and Credonia Mwerinde may still be alive, and have issued an international warrant for their arrest.
The 48-acre plot of land used by the cult has been incorporated into a tea plantation, but the owner has announced plans to create a memorial on parts of the property.