Police arrest suspected fake pastors

Kampala, Uganda - A man, who claimed to be a pastor from Mubende was last Saturday detained for allegedly gathering people under a fake religious cult.

Mr Henry Ssali Kibwisa, 56, claims that God appeared to him in a vision in 1995 telling him to heal people.

"I started preaching the word of God in 1995 following whaat I got from the vision. My church was first situated in Lumbago and later I moved to Gabwa village in Mubende," said Ssali, told journalists at the Central Police Station yesterday.

Ssali said God directed him where to get the holy water, and he has been following God's orders.

According to the police, Ssali’s cult was similar to that of Joseph Kibwetere that led to the Kanungu inferno.

Over 1,000 followers under Kibwetere’s Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments died in the inferno on claims that the world was coming to an end.

The Regional Police Commander, Central Region, Mr Grace Turyagumanawe, said Ssali was arrested because his 'church' was not registered.

Turyagumanawe said many families in Mubende had broken up because of Ssalli’s church.

“Ssali was keeping housewives who go to his church for treatment for a long time and had stopped them from having sex with the husbands,” Turyagumanawe said.

The police transported the people they found at Ssali’s church and returned them to their homes.