Writer: Benjamin Rukwengye. PHOTO/FILE.
A few weeks ago, I started to share documentaries that I have watched, so that people who are interested can find them. Last week’s documentary was called “I Receive Papa”, and it got some interesting feedback. It is about a Southern-African Pentecostal pastor who, for all intents and purposes, is a conman actively taking advantage of his unsuspecting sheep.
One of my younger friends texted to ask what my friends would think and if they wouldn’t get “annoyed”. I responded, jokingly, that I didn’t have any friends who go to church, even if I knew what he was referring to. He told me that his friends who go to one or two churches in Kampala often “catch feelings” when the conduct of their leaders is called into question. We are going to come back to this specific situation in a moment, but let us broaden it a little more. On Sunday, a Zimbabwean academic listened to a couple of us bantering away in Luganda.
When he had the chance to, he chimed in and asked, “So what do you guys think about Bobi Wine?” It was an intriguing question because your average Ugandan will usually get asked about Idi Amin or President Museveni. But even more, it was the kind of question whose answers could literally go anywhere – depending on who was responding.
Pretty much the same general reaction you would have if the question was about President Museveni or his heir apparent. The same goes for what do you think about pastor/prophet/apostle so and so? The connection here is that you have no choice in how any two people perceive you.
People’s opinions and prejudices are shaped by a lot more than any of us could ever imagine. Two people with the same exact circumstances can still have different viewpoints on the same subject. And as Uganda gets increasingly polarized, it is going to get even be harder to have objective answers to questions like that. But even worse, it is going to be more difficult to disagree without being disagreeable. To accept that two truths can coexist.
A classic example is someone who is arguably the most infamous Christian. Judas Iscariot. One of the 12 disciples and their treasurer, no less. Hang out with Jesus every single day for a good part of 3 years and then betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. Yet if Judas, who for three years spent his every waking day with Jesus could sell him out? If Peter, on whom the church is built, could deny Christ at the hour of need? How is your Man of God beyond reproach?
If there was opposition to every consequential leader in history, how could whoever you support possibly believe themselves to be infallible? How could you let yourself fall for it? And yet we all know people like this. The ones called to serve, or claiming to have been, whether in church or public office, but without having given up on their old habits. Some pick up on the habits along the way, thanks to their offices. Others, because they want to hold on and lock everybody else out.
When it is convenient for us, we call out and question those who aren’t in our circles for their excesses. We notice and theorize about how they have amassed so much with so little talent. But we also absolve, defend, or turn a blind eye to the ones with whom we have an attachment. We get uncomfortable and defensive when others point out the contradictions.
Questions and calls for accountability offend us. We rationalize their use of force and violence to get their way. We get conscripted into social media armies and join bots to attack, defend, and cheer. But make no mistake, because, like in the words of the great American President, Abraham Lincoln, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Some Balokole might be too hypnotized to tell but others can see when your supposed-Man of God is involved in shady business. Similarly, overzealous “political Balokole” could also try and drown out the criticism, but people know when your man is breaking the laws of the land for self-sake.
Mr Benjamin Rukwengye, Founder - Boundless Minds.
@Rukwengye
