Fourth Dimension: Time does not correct wrongs

At a gathering of young men and women from the university campuses in Kampala, the executive director of Kampala Capital City Authority decried the fact that many wrong things in the city have gone on for such a long time that they have become accepted as normal. And when one attempts to put things right, that person is accused of interferencing with social order. There are many basic issues that have become acceptable yet they were not right from the very beginning. Wrong is excused in the name of “some people have to survive”. There is fear to re-establish law and order lest those affected will turn into criminals.

If a place was gazetted for public and common good, then it should be upheld as a place for the well-being of the society. When the people asked to manage these public places turn them into their survival joints, then it is not the public they are serving but their private interests. And when these people harden their hearts against community welfare, they should not be allowed to ride on the tide of public sympathy because they were not serving the community in the first place. To assume that those evicted from these places will turn into criminals is wrongful promotion of evil as a response to common good. It is not the eviction that turns good people into rogues. They were already rogues that simply waited for an excuse for their wrong deeds.

Society must reject the notion that lawbreakers should be left to benefit from their wrong acts because time has elapsed from the moment they embarked on the wrong journey. What must become accepted and common practice is that whenever you break the law, be sure the law will catch up with you someday and you will suffer the consequences.

Existence of wrong for a long time must not be accepted as a reason for the continuation of wrong acts and attitudes. Time does not correct wrong, it simply proves the evil of the wrong that was committed from the very beginning. There must be a general feeling that when one does what is wrong, the arm of the law will apprehend that person no matter the length of time.

The Bible indicates in the book of Romans, Chapter 2,that no one will escape God’s judgment. It goes on to warn against despising the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience which grants us time to correct our wrongs before the law of God catches up with us. It goes to declare that the time between the wrong act and the action of the law is a period given out of God’s kindness with the intention of allowing the sinner to have a change of heart from wrong to right.

Biblically this is referred to as repentance. Unfortunately, this grace is often abused and people instead harden their hearts against truth and justice. The result of this is many unpleasant occurrences that hurt both the evil doers and the innocent public. But we can all agree to change this outlook to life in Uganda.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com