Confusion as prophecy by doomsday cult fails

The Standard, Kenya/September 13, 2006

Confusion and division has hit the House of Yahweh sect after their prediction that the world would come to an end yesterday came a cropper.

House of Yahweh followers were divided on the interpretation of a prophecy that depicted the end of the world through a nuclear war yesterday.

The result was confusion and division in Nyandarua District even as panic gripped parts of Mauche in Molo, Nakuru District, with sect members entering bunkers dug in their houses.

The sect leader, Eleazor Kamotho Mugwe, said their prediction had been misunderstood to mean the end of the world yet theirs was the beginning of the doomsday prophecy.

"It can take up to seven years from now for the said nuclear war to take place because the prophecy talks about September 12," said Mugwe.

The leader, who was speaking to journalists at the Nyandarua Police division headquarters in Nyahururu town, said the war and its devastating effects did not scare them.

He said they had taken their children to school as a routine, adding that they were going about their daily chores contrary to media reports.

Mugwe refused to be drawn into discussing the sect’s activities in Nakuru District where a section of the media reported that they have dug bunkers to shield themselves from nuclear war effects.

"What we know is that after the prophecy, we should be prepared for anything, but we do not know precisely when the war begins," he said.

Mugwe said he presented himself to Nyandarua OCPD, Mr Amos Owang, to assure the Government that he was not hiding in the bunkers.

The leader, alongside another, was bonded to keep peace for two years by a Nyahururu court.

The sect had predicted that the Oslo accord signed in 1993 between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and witnessed by then US President Bill Clinton was to collapse yesterday without peace in the Middle East, which would eventually lead to a nuclear war.

In Mauche, residents converged at the homes of the followers as police intensified patrols.

Likia OCS, Mr Shadrack Charo, said the police would monitor the situation to avoid cases of mass suicide.

"We do not want a repeat of what happened in Uganda when members of a cult killed themselves because of their beliefs. We will continue monitoring the situation," he said.

Speaking at his house where he has dug a pit, Mosheh Sang said the followers were not going to commit mass suicide, but were following the teachings in their holy script.

"People see us as a cult, but I am assuring people that we are following the 613 laws as contained in the book of Yahweh," he said.

Sang said the members were stocking food in their bunkers in anticipation of the end of the world.

The members who differ with the teachings of the Bible believe that yesterday was the beginning of the greatest tribulations on earth before the return of their king.

"We do not subscribe to the Bible because its writings are not original. They are translations which are not true," said Yaaqob Kiplagat, a follower.

The followers have stocked molasses and busaa in the pits dug in their mud houses, which they claim would act as defenses against the harmful nuclear radiation.

Nyandarua DC, Mr Khamisi Shivogo, said they were watching the members closely after their prophesy failed.