By Ocama Moses
In recent weeks President Museveni has made an assurance to have church registered as a church, not a Non-governmental Organisation as was the case in Uganda. This was at a mega youth conference organized by the prophet David Isanga on 8th September 2024 in the Eastern part of the country.
This has raised an old debate on the church and politics. Politics and religion have always had a very thin line since the beginning of human history. All leaders in history in many ways have drawn power from supernatural beings to successfully govern; some from true God and others from small gods.
That’s why religion has always permeated politics and played key roles in determining the health of the State. Once a government captures religion under its armpit, it can now do many things with ease because religion softens the hearts and makes the government gain legitimacy easily.
The Romans used the Catholic church to export their colonial influence and the British monarchy used the Anglican church to do some purpose in history.
Museveni is a good a student of politics, Religion, history, political philosophy, Politics Economy and military science, and has excellently known the importance of exploiting religion to his advantage. His closer relationship with church leaders and generous support rendered to religious leaders and programs have successfully endeared him to the faithful and enhanced his political patronage over religion and the relative stability of his government.
Museveni being a man of many colours has employed empire-building techniques in political philosophy and military science. As a breed of the last empire builders of the 20th century, what he established called FRONASA/ NRA was /is a vehicle for the Empire State Building.
The guerilla war waged between 1981-1986 was a prelude of young idealists of the middle 29th century who had long-crafted plans to establish his own empire in The republic of Uganda.The activities of the FRONASA.(Front For National Salvation) an outfit of a rebel group recruited by President Museveni in 1970 during the reign of President Idi Amin Dada.
1980 elections just provided a unique opportunity for President Museveni and his liked-minded to use a pretext of rigged elections to complete his mission conceived much earlier.
Uganda from the 1986 NRA takeover has just been an empire dream fulfilment. The promises of fundamentals changed in the 10 points program in my view have been a sham and a facade. Otherwise Uganda’s seldomly resembled democracies.
This explains why the conceived constitution of 1995 has been played with at will and no resistance of any kind succeeded. Museveni just like the great 29th-century revolutionaries like the late Fidel Castro of Cuba, Mao of China, Omar ElBashir etc, mastered the art of building a successful State empire for himself, his family and friends he successfully did so in Uganda and the entire greatlake region.
Most governments in the Great Lake region and East Africa have been and are his handiwork behind the curtain. The best example is Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi, Kenya, DRC and Somalia where his names as featured in the government changes.
For Uganda, the only determinant of the aftermath of Museveni is Son Muhoozi, the widely perceived successor. There are no questions as to whether Muhoozi will or will not succeed his father in my view. This is because the state has been organized to serve the personal interest of President Museveni.
Muhoozi if he succeeds his father, is going to inherit a highly divided nation polarised by decades of fatigue with his father’s iron hand rule by large sections of Ugandans.
What Muhoozi must do in my view if he is to successfully lead is to rapidly transform the country by stamping out the corruption pandemic that has gripped the country, creating more Jobs, strengthening infrastructure development, and social development, restoring Uganda to a constitutional rule path; be more listening to the masses than his father and be the more of “transition president.”
In the bible, during the 40 years of King Solomon, when he became Old, the royal house experienced turbulence. Jeroboam one of Solomon’s top officials rebelled against him. Solomon wanted him dead, so he escaped to Egypt for asylum.
When Solomon passed on, Israelites came to his son Rehoboam, asking him to lift the oppression and forced labour that had characterised his father’s rule and overburdened them. He asked them to give him a moment to come up with a definite answer. Upon consultation from both the younger advisors who were his age mates and the old advisors who were his father’s close team, he refused to take advice from his father’s advisors but chose the youthful colleagues’ advice.
The Youthful advisors misguided him to threaten the people that he would double their punishment, hardship and suffering with the hope that would instil fear and make them more submissive and his reign secure. On the contrary, it became his biggest undoing. This wrong advice was against a favourable treatment of lifting the burden of forced labour, heavy taxation and oppression the people desired advised by his late father’s advisory team.
So when he got the opportunity to respond to the people, he deluded him with wrong advice and before his eyes the kingdom disintegrated with 10 tribes breaking off. He remained with Judah and part of Benjamin’s tribes that remained loyal to David’s descendants.
This small analogy is built on the fact that 40 years of Museveni’s empire building and rule just Like King Solomon’s long rule benefitted very few Ugandans.
The majority faced abject poverty, and hardship amidst plenty which they cannot afford but they see and hear being wasted daily. A few hugely became obscenely rich and affluence became the definition of their lives and most of these few were closer to the empire builders and his inner cycles or those by extension enjoyed a higher degree of patronage. Like religious leaders, Some cultural leaders and top mobilizers of the empire establishment.
The challenge for Muhoozi is to overturn those weaknesses of his father into opportunities otherwise, they will be the ultimate threats that will end his father’s empire in his hands.
He must deal decisively with unemployment by creating jobs and supporting welfare programs that improve the lives of every Ugandans. That is what most Ugandans need.
Ugandans need improvement in their lives with the vast wealth of the nation; they need peace and security; unity, prosperity, better health services, free and affordable quality education, affordable housing programs, advancement in Agriculture and ICT etc as it happened under Gaddafi Libya. Uganda has mineral wealth and raw materials to be a great Nation with prudent administration.
The type of government may or may not be the primary interest of every Ugandans but the welfare of citizens and development is.
If Muhoozi fails these tests and continues with oppression and corruption in a similar way under his father, his government might not last as the son of Solomon’s Kingdom disintegrated before his eyes.
Otherwise, his father seems to have built for him an empire and probably would hand it to him on a silver platter. The stability and continuity onus is with him as old age is irreversible.
Lastly, back to religion, it will continue to be part of politics for the foreseeable future because humans are inherently religious beings. Politics exploits human religious system for mobilisation and cohesion. No government has ever left the religious system outside politics and neither did the religious system allow the government to operate without their checks.
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