Muhumusa and the spirit Nyabingi
In 1911 Muhumusa, a woman claiming to be the medium of the spirit Nyabingi, led resistance against the colonial powers in the borderlands of Uganda and Rwanda; the British passed a witchcraft ordinance aimed at her followers.
1911 CE · -1.25, 29.99 · status: official
The account
Nyabingi was revered in Kigezi and northern Rwanda as a female spirit who could bring fertility or harm, served by priestesses. Muhumusa was captured in 1911 and held in Kampala until her death in 1945; her followers fought on under new mediums. The Uganda Witchcraft Ordinance of 1912 was written partly to suppress the cult. The name later passed to Jamaican Rastafari. The point is Kabale.
The sceptical view
A spirit cult and its political use, documented by colonial officials and later historians; the spirit's powers are a matter of belief.