When God, Jesus and Museveni get mentioned in same sentence

What you need to know:

  • Ugandans must not exercise their citizenship to challenge their elected President, to question him on his words and his actions, after all he belongs to a much higher realm. It is striking that Mr Oulanyah and Mr Nadduli are subverting the very essence of democratic politics: the active back and forth between leaders and the led.
  • Both Mr Oulanyah and Hajj Nadduli ask us to keep our weapons sheathed and leave the anointed one alone. What is anointed by God is sacred, awesome, and mere mortals must never desecrate it.

I have not yet found any evidence of President Museveni referring to himself as Jesus, or God’s own best gift to Uganda.

He has the smarts to only go as far as openly christening himself Ssabalwanyi (chief warrior/fighter) or Ssabagabe (king of kings). Plus, of course, he says he is a pre-eminent freedom fighter and liberator in Africa.

Those working hard to tie Mr Museveni directly to God and his only begotten son Jesus Christ are some religious leaders and plenty of politicians. They do this for small reasons. The former take cars, the latter take appointive positions from the President.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has stated that Mr Museveni is, in the words of the Daily Monitor, like Jesus Christ who left his comfort zone of heaven and opted to come down to earth to die for sinners. The sinners of Uganda should therefore “cling onto President Museveni because he protects their right to worship”.
How does Mr Oulanyah know Mr Museveni was in a comfort zone?

No matter, there is actually the right to worship in Uganda, as the Constitution says there should be. Yet we still need to thank Mr Museveni for it by keeping him in power. Suppose we actually had to thank him, must that ‘thank you’ necessarily come through keeping him put in State House? We can be more creative than that. No? Mr Oulanyah?
And if the right to worship is not my big issue, but good and affordable healthcare and education are, should I also cling on to President Museveni? Or do I have the right to work to throw him out of State House? I understand Mr Oulanyah was speaking to Christians in Kabale District, but I would still love to hear him expound on his curious thought.

Mr Oulanyah is just one among many with bizarre notions about President Museveni’s relationship with Ugandans. Hajj Abdul Nadduli, having recently made entry into Cabinet as minister without portfolio (an interesting title), also believes we should hold on tight to Mr Museveni. We must never disturb his hold on to power.
It’s worth quoting from Daily Monitor what Mr Nadduli said last week in Bushenyi: “Museveni is anointed by God to lead Uganda, according to what I have experienced with him from the time we met. I am two years older than him and you can see how energetic I am. The man is still strong but I have unfortunately seen some of you sharpen pangas [machete] and spears ready to kill him…

“Don’t crucify Museveni like the Hebrews did to Jesus. He was born among them, performed miracles and did good things but they ended up crucifying him. Leave Museveni alone.”
Huh, maybe the Hebrews knew something Mr Nadduli doesn’t.

Both Mr Oulanyah and Hajj Nadduli ask us to keep our weapons sheathed and leave the anointed one alone. What is anointed by God is sacred, awesome, and mere mortals must never desecrate it.

In other words Ugandans must not exercise their citizenship to challenge their elected President, to question him on his words and his actions, after all he belongs to a much higher realm. It is striking that Mr Oulanyah and Mr Nadduli are subverting the very essence of democratic politics: the active back and forth between leaders and the led.

They are emasculating Ugandans, playing on their religiosity given how overwhelmingly religious this country is. They also know the man has stayed in office 30 years, chasing 35 now, and they are finding ways of soothing us.

After three decades in power, Mr Museveni has a long record to defend. It is a record by which he is rightly judged. Let’s have that conversation as citizens with rights. These little lectures about Mr Museveni’s rule being God-ordained are patronising, annoying, and anti-democratic.

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Mr Tabaire is the co-founder and director of programmes at African Centre for Media Excellence in Kampala.
[email protected]
Twitter:@btabaire