Is It God or Is It Us?

Snack for Thought: We are in the age of the unthinkable (Ramo, ’09): terrorists that are willing to die for a cause even if they have as yet to strike us, diseases that can spread quickly by planes, and the clamors for resources to satisfy unbridled consumerism resulting in cataclysmic ecological upsets. If we are still stuck in the mundane struggles with a medieval peasant dictator, how are we to handle these challenges that can even disorient established democracies?
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The other day Janet Museveni thanked God for making her minister of the Karamojong—those naked, clitoris-chopping barbarian cattle thieves. Did she really expect us to believe her? If she did, then may be she thought that, after letting her bo rule us with an iron fist for so long, we are just plain stupid. Is that assessment far from the truth? The last time I saw, the man was walking one step at a time like the rest of us—nothing celestial about him.

Let us come down to earth—in the realm of humans. The appointment was a calculated move to lock the Jong votes comes 2011—plain and simple. And may be, in addition, it was a training ground for bigger things to come. The Lesson: The next time someone ladles to you a toxic brew of politics and religion the way this couple does, grab your voter card and run for the hills—far away as you can. Their intent is to numb your senses and make you dumb and mute to their manipulations. In one hand they have the bible, in the other the sword, and in their mouths loads of your taxes to do with as they please.

Then before we know it, as the Acoli try to find their bearings, one so-called bishop goes about in Acoliland and proclaims: the problems the Acoli face is because they have veered away from God. Come again, bishop—I object.

The Acoli problems run deep. Yes. But God has nothing to do with it. A people fail or succeed based on how they organize themselves. They have to ask themselves: Are our systems—social institutions and cultural values—resilient and adaptive? Can the tree bend and come back to the original form when the gales have passed? The same applies to individuals. If you organize poorly, you get poor results and inability “…to withstand surprises…” or “…to absorb the worst nightmares.” (Ramo, ‘09). If you organize smartly and consciously, your probability of succeeding increases. If you are just wandering about and leaving things to chance, you are at the mercy of chance and those who organize well. It is GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out).

Soon there will be Martyrs Day. Men and women of faith will walk hundreds of miles to Namugongo with serious conviction and devotion to the people who were roasted by a crazy tribal king more than two centuries ago. There will be pageantry and celebrations. Beyond the exciting spectacles, the camaraderie and health benefits of walking many miles, may be every other year we dedicate to mourning in memoriam of the inauspicious beginning of what came to be known as Uganda. In the process, we should leave God and the saints out of it and question ourselves man-to-man, woman-to-woman, clan-to-clan and tribe-to-tribe as to why ever since we have had leaders who abuse us and kill us. When or if we find the answer, may be we can find the solution and free ourselves from oppressions.

What about if we begin by taking to heart the seemingly sappy notion of: I am my brother’s keeper. At least that brought us from the caves amidst scary thunders, lighting and wild beasts from which, in fear, we conjured up the ideas of a god or gods. Thereafter the clever ones amongst us usurped the gods and gained control over our minds and dominion over our physical bodies and resources. And many still do in various guises. We can pray all we want until the cows come home. No can do. It is us and our minds. Add to that a belief in duty to society and pursuing our individual interests in congruence. God has nothing to do with our fates and conditions.

Clarity about causes and effects is another area that can help. We need intellectual honesty. If a person says, for example, that the reason the peasants in Buganda are joined to the hip of Museveni is because of such atrocities as “panda gari” or injustices by some UPC apparatchiks, she is mentally lazy. The periods of contentions with the “Anyanyas,” who purportedly perpetrated these atrocities are very brief in the annals of the 500-year history which Buganda is very proud of, and which formed the Ganda psychic. Besides, the Anyayas were decisively routed. There must, therefore, be something else at play. Could it be that the Museveni rule resembles the autocratic, all-powerful mode a peasant Ganda is more familiar with? The Museveni power touches them up close in the LC system. Big Daddy is watching!