The cult leaders had told their followers that the world was going to end on December 31, 1999. However, when their prophecy did not come true, they decided to take matters into their own hands. The cult leaders announced the next day of the apocalypse to be March 17, 2000. They said that the apocalypse would come with "ceremony and finality".
Slain politician Charles Okello Engola was the deputy minister for gender and labour in Uganda. Earlier he had also served as the defence minister of Uganda.