As mankind seeks serious Covid-19 solutions, Ugandans are praying

Author: Alan Tacca. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • ‘‘Uganda is squandering so much energy rotating around its pulpit theatricals”

One could say that Covid-19 is shaping President Museveni into a religious cult leader of sorts.
At the same time, while all level-headed Ugandans are sickened by the grossness of his 81-strong Cabinet, there are eccentric Christian groups begging for another ministry. Yes, for religious affairs!
Now, about once every four months, a ruler with intriguing principles turns State House into a ‘shrine’, where various religious leaders converge and pretend to worship one God in harmony, praying for the end of Covid-19.

And our eccentric Christians, who think that neo-pagan demon and miracle-mongering makes them superior to all other believers, want a thoroughly corrupt earthly government to create a ministry to give them direction!
Museveni’s ‘fishermen’ are lucky. They do not have to cast their nets very wide to find people who believe ridiculous things.
Therapies like steaming with exotic weeds or drinking cockroach soup to cure Covid-19 excite a hunter-gatherer’s mindset that cannot internalise the complexity of the problem. But these half-myths give a failing government some breathing space.

When President Museveni and his team talk about a home-made vaccine to solve a crisis whose urgency is measured in weeks and months rather than 20 years, it is because they know they are talking to hunter-gatherers, who have already forgotten earlier hoaxes like those stupid electric cars; unless, of course, they are talking with the naivety of fishermen. 
It is hard to believe that Uganda has the expertise and state-of-the-art tools to make this a serious proposal. 
However, such government-initiated gossip diverts public attention, buying yet more breathing space for a regime that cannot even provide reasonable quantities of oxygen at the country’s top hospital. 

When man fails with demonstrable knowledge, he often turns to the illusions of magic and religion. 
Museveni may not strike you as a natural religious cult leader. However, if there is space in the religious sphere, he can exploit it.
Dispute it if you want, but the people praying at State House pretend to be in harmony because they fear and worship the President. God alone is incapable of drawing them to a shared understanding.

Museveni luxuriates in any expression of power. Whether he believes (or doesn’t) that God has power over Covid-19, it is pleasurable to control a set of puppets in priestly vestments at State House. 
Additionally, this theatre reinforces many people’s belief that the pandemic is in the hands of God. So Museveni can breathe some more.
You do not need a degree in anthropology to grasp that all pulpit work and Museveni’s prayer exhibitions are cultural expressions.

The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development already has a minister of State for Gender and Culture. That is where religious organisations should belong; not Ethics and Integrity.
Pentecostal church owners, who are the most commercial and least ethical players in the religious industry, are also the keenest at demanding a separate ministry for Religious Affairs. In Uganda’s corrupt environment, this would open yet another hole through which to raid the Treasury; this time for the religious mafia.

The only backlash would be that with such a development, the call for government to tame and regulate religious activity, as well as for church accountability, State-directed audits and taxation will get louder than before.
Unfortunately, while serious countries are immersed in scientific research and socio-economic planning to deal with today’s and tomorrow’s health challenges, gloriously backward Uganda is squandering so much energy and financial resources rotating around its pulpit theatricals, including public holidays for Covid-19 prayers!


Mr Tacca is a novelist, socio-political commentator.
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