Witchdoctor Convinces Museveni to Jump Over Slaughtered Chicken (Bush War Story)

In the jungles of Uganda’s Luweero Triangle, where dense thickets provided cover for guerrilla fighters in the early 1980s, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni faced challenges that extended far beyond military tactics.

Leading the National Resistance Army (NRA) against Milton Obote’s government forces during the Bush War (1981–1986), the young commander had to forge unity among recruits whose worldviews mixed Christian devotion with longstanding indigenous spiritual practices.

It was in this crucible of conflict — marked by heavy civilian casualties, disease, and scarcity — that Museveni participated in a ritual involving a slaughtered chicken, an act he has since described openly as a pragmatic step to maintain cohesion.

The war stemmed from disputed 1980 elections, prompting Museveni to take up arms. By the mid-1980s, his forces were battling not only Obote’s better-armed troops but also the invisible forces of doubt, division, and superstition that threatened to unravel the rebellion.

A Priest’s Intervention

On the evening of October 8, 2015, at the annual national prayers held ahead of Uganda’s Independence Day celebrations at Hotel Africana in Kampala, Museveni shared the story with an audience that included religious figures and Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto.

His remarks offered a rare glimpse into the spiritual negotiations of wartime leadership.

“A priest came to me once and said, do you know why the war has taken so long? It’s because Obote cursed it,” Museveni recounted.

“He told me that Obote murdered a woman and buried her upside down and that they had to perform a ritual on me, which I agreed to. They then slaughtered a chicken, and as the head of the Resistance, I had to jump over it three times.”

According to Museveni, the priest assured him that the rite would enable victory.

“The priest then told me that now that I had completed the ritual, I would be able to capture Kampala, even with one rifle,” he continued. “I told him no, no, no, you tell your ancestors to leave the fighting matters to me.”

He presented the episode as a calculated move for unity.

“That’s how I was able to unite my people,” Museveni explained, drawing on advice from Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere about staying connected to one’s followers.

He warned that without steady guidance, the struggle might have mirrored the spiritualist upheaval led by Alice Lakwena and her Holy Spirit Mobile Forces.

Enduring Reflections on Tradition

Museveni has returned to this theme in subsequent addresses, underscoring his respect for indigenous beliefs.

In 2024, he defended traditional religion’s potency while addressing interfaith gatherings at State House Entebbe. “It is very strong,” he said of traditional practices, cautioning mainstream religious leaders against alienating their practitioners.

“We had a very good relationship with them,” he added, referring to traditional healers.

Now in his eighth decade and still at the helm since seizing power in January 1986, Museveni frequently mines his bush war experiences to illustrate lessons in adaptive leadership.

The Luweero campaign remains etched in national memory as both a triumph and a tragedy, with accusations of excesses on multiple sides.

Yet in Museveni’s narrative, the ritual exemplified the blend of faiths that helped sustain the NRA through hardship until its march into Kampala.

Echoes Across African Leadership

The anecdote illuminates a broader reality in sub-Saharan politics: the persistent interplay between imported religions and ancestral traditions.

While many leaders consult healers discreetly, Museveni’s willingness to discuss such matters publicly distinguishes him. He casts the chicken ritual not as credulity but as cultural realism — a bridge across divides in a society where rural fighters often balanced Sunday services with nighttime ancestral rites.

Decades later, as Uganda navigates contemporary challenges under his long tenure, the image of the resistance commander leaping over the bird lingers as a striking symbol.

It captures the complex fusion of modernity and tradition that has defined both Museveni’s personal journey and the nation’s turbulent path since independence.

In his telling, it was one small but telling concession in a larger fight for victory — mind-boggling to outsiders, perhaps, yet rooted in the unforgiving logic of wartime survival.

Fast forward to 2026, Museveni reportedly grilled Rebecca Kadaga as he allegedly played audios of Kadaga instructing a witchdoctor to bewitch and kill Museveni, first lady Janet, Muhoozi and Salim Saleh, as reported Here.

A Museveni minister recently threatened another with witchraft during a conversation. (See Details Here).

On bush war stories, read about the NARROW ESCAPE of how Kagame Saved Muhoozi and His Father Museveni from Being Killed by Obote Soldiers in Kireka HERE.

Also read about How Besigye Taught NRA Fighters to Use Chloroform During Kabamba Barracks Attack Here.