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.
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.
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.
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.
