According to Ekuwe, the fire is not visible to the occupants of the family members when it breaks out even when they are at home. He says that the fire always emerges between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm but is only visible to non-family members.
At least 30 people in Bukedea district are homeless after a
mysterious fire burnt their houses. The fire started in Kachabul village in
Kabarwa Sub County before spreading to the neighbouring Kacede village following
the lineage of Inyakoi Clan members.
The fire had razed down eight houses by the time of
publishing this story. Martin Ekuwe, a resident of Kacede village, says that
the fire started from his father’s home where it burnt one grass-thatched house
reducing everything including documents to ash.
He explains that the fire continued to his brother’s houses
and his own after a few days. According to Ekuwe, the fire is not
visible to the occupants of the family members when it breaks out even when
they are at home. He says that the fire always emerges between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm but is only visible to non-family members.
Ateso byte
// cue in “Obu akim ogeu…
Cue out…ikibiriti”//
Sandra Amongin, another resident from Kacede
village, says that the fire has left them no option but to sleep in the open
since neighbours fear accommodating them on grounds that the mysterious fire
will burn their houses as well.
Amongin explained that the fire has caused them
a loss of more than six million Shillings after consuming five bags of rice and
other household items.
//Cue in: “We have been…
Cue out…from out,”//
David Okumama, LC 1 Chairperson of Kachabul
village, says that they have tried different measures to contain the fire in
vain. Okumama reveals that the fire started causing havoc in his village around
March but the affected families ran to the church, an intervention that saved
the village for about a month. He links the mysterious fire to acts of witchcraft,
which he notes need to be resolved between the affected and aggrieved families.
//Cue in “The problem…
Cue out…existing”//
By the time of filing this story, a security
meeting convened by the police, GISO and other local leaders was ongoing to
forge a way out of the mysterious fire. The meeting attended by hundreds of
people is a follow-up of a similar sitting in March when the participants were
thrown into panic as fire gutted a house amidst their presence.
