To thank or not to thank God for Kasese and Yahya Jammeh
If Jesus had been born, executed, and an attempt made to mythologise his fatherhood in our times, DNA tests might have settled things differently.
As it is, we have a myth that is exploited by so many people of diverse interests that even I – for just this day – can agree to let the spirit of the birth of God’s Son take control.
Let the God in the virtues of love, generosity, mercy, reconciliation and communion prevail. And above all, for today, even the God who created the universe and everything in it, and who controls all events, is also not to be disputed.
In other words, God the Omnipotent, the Omnipresent and the Omniscient is all over me today. If I have not declared myself a prophet, that is only because my ego is not quite the correct whale size.
Enlarged and enriched by this season’s spirit, I am going to clean up one or two things to restore God to his infinite glory. We cannot end 2016 with God’s own anointed people and other torchbearers slackening on the power and infallibility of God.
However, my method has not changed.
As usual, a certain logical procedure is intended to back my effort. Where that fails, I must fully accept responsibility for botching my present mission.
It was reported that on Friday, December 9, at the National Thanksgiving Service hosted by State House, neither President Museveni, nor the Pentecostal preachers, Dr Joseph Serwadda (who delivered the sermon) and Pastor John Mulinde (who gave the national prayer) mentioned the mayhem at King Charles Wesley Mumbere’s palace in Kasese District.
I have no problem with President Museveni on this one, because everything in Kasese must have happened as God allowed those events to happen, and the President had played his role.
His army, or the national army, UPDF, had clearly triumphed over an opponent.
This was only one of very many successes Museveni and his government had registered; successes for which he and the nation were now formally thanking God. He had no obligation to list them one by one. He could have even remained regally silent throughout the function.
As an occasion, this was something for the men of God, the clerics. It was their hour to lead the national voice of thanks; just like the Cranes have their hour on the football field.
Since God is Omniscient, Omnipotent and perfect in his works, there was no need for the pastors to act as if they imagined effujjo, errors or oversight on the part of the same God regarding the Kasese events. Or as if President Museveni was tired of hearing about his victories.
Why; because in a subsequent radio and TV programme, Dr Serwadda answered those who questioned his (and Pastor Mulinde’s) avoidance of the Kasese issue by explaining that he knew nothing about Kasese, except the stories he had seen in the newspapers. So he could not talk about Kasese.
This was dishonest, even cynical. There are very many issues which intelligent people only learn about through the media. At the State House function, Dr Serwadda listed about 15 armies and guerrilla outfits that President Museveni had defeated over the years, which the man of God reasoned was evidence that God had chosen Museveni for his leadership role.
But the man of God could not have known about most of these groups and their wars except through the media.
Without apportioning blame, there was already overwhelming evidence that the events in Kasese had happened. Dr Serwadda (and Pastor Mulinde) only had to add the defeat of the King’s guards to President Museveni’s other victories, and to thank God for it.
The other issue is Gambia. All God-fearing people proclaim that political power is attained only by the will of God, yet they are castigating Jammeh.
God has given Yahya Jammeh more than 20 years in power, and He seems undecided whether to ram Jammeh’s head against a rock or sink his rival, Adama Barrow. Let us be patient. When God reaches whichever decision, we will thank Him.
Have a Christmas of fun.
Mr Tacca is a novelist, socio-political commentator.
