Writer: Alan Tacca. PHOTO/FILE
As God’s dog, not a prophet, I have maintained that a corrupt State tends to embrace or even consciously nurture corrupt religion. When the ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean civilisations were ruled and contested by ruthless warlords, absolute kings and emperors, they created and presented God as an oversized lord, king and emperor, and whose ruthlessness (read Ezekiel) sometimes left your mouth open. Even as His dog, I can join those who thank God (yes, God) that He is in a state of rest. So we are mercifully relieved from His wrath. However, by the same token, His wisdom, kindness and miraculous power are inaccessible. Those who tell you that God (personally) spoke to them are blatant liars, unless they are hyper-dreamers or ill in some other way and have had hallucinations, mistaking them for God.
Therefore, take it from me that God has nothing at all to do with your rulers. You choose them, or they impose themselves, and they act entirely on their own as mortals. Because they know that you are timid and especially as Africans prone to superstition, they, their family members and bootlickers will frighten you that they are chosen by God. Naturally, bad rulers gravitate towards versions of a God peddled by corrupt religion. Europeans will meticulously rebuild a burnt cathedral to preserve their heritage, but few will invoke God to scare you or make false promises. It is sometimes puzzling why Ugandans find simple honesty so hard, even in situations where honesty would enhance their stature. Take a Ugandan pastor who openly solicited for listeners’ votes to endorse his radio station for an award in the category of Gospel Music.
Why does the same pastor cunningly announce and present the station’s win as if the category of “Gospel Music” had mysteriously become the category of “Gospel Everything”? And why hyper-inflate an obscure award from Tanzania almost to the size of a Nobel Prize? Honesty apparently becomes harder when we are obsessed with winning, or being the biggest, or acquiring medals, or becoming chief, or determining who becomes chief, or influencing chief. Our reality gets severely distorted. Bokassa and Amin had chests bedecked with dozens of medals. You would think Bokassa had defeated 12 galactic armies. Robert Mugabe had over 10 university degrees, but did not know when to leave power. In his grossness, Donald Trump would probably sell his soul betraying Ukraine if the deal secured him the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rogue African governments will assist a fraudulent Western faith healer to exploit the natives instead of investigating how the pastor’s syndicated advance team works with his local collaborators to stage his fake miracles. Unfortunately, bad breeds more bad. After attacking a senior Muslim politician for merely insinuating that Muslims should vote for a fellow Muslim in one parliamentary by-election, some pastors are now openly urging Pentecostals to vote for fellow Pentecostals in 2026. And as if answering the call, a faith-coated lady is castigating Kampala’s MP’s for abandoning the task of removing President Museveni.
How does she intend to get rid of Museveni? Evans Walusimbi of Simba FM asked Namaganda last Sunday. Simple, she would rally Ugandans to fast and pray for 40 days. Then Museveni would fall! I suspect that National Unity Platform (NUP), whose ticket she claims to be eying, will gently instruct her that the frequently-cited biblical fool who denied God’s existence has since been replaced by the 21st-century idiot who does not know that God is in a state of rest and cannot fix Uganda’s problems.
Mr Tacca is a novelist and socio-political commentator.
