On Tuesday evening this week, I received reports from the UBOS enumerators that two households in Nyakashambya cell, Kyarukunda ward, Bugongi Town council had refused to be counted with a reason that their faith doesn’t allow counting. The next day, I went to that village with the police officers but my interest was to first interview those people and get first hand information if indeed they had refused to be counted, an old woman in her early seventies openly told me that indeed she couldn’t accept to be counted because the Bible commands them that they should worship only one God and not any other God and that counting them would mean that they’ve worshiped another God which is government. I tried to convince the old woman and she insisted that she can’t accept to be counted. I was told that a number of people people subscribe to that cult do not believe in any government program that include among many, immunizing children, taking children to school and using telephones. In their wisdom and thinking they believe that is satanic. We would later in the next day be called intervene in another village where Enumerators were turned away on the same grounds, we got to understand that the cult has spread to different parts of the district and the neighboring districts.
I later related this to another scenario I watched on television where a man in Luwero was claiming to be Jesus Christ and stopping people from being counted, He said that he was already counted in heaven and he can’t be counted again on earth. The police arrested him and the other day he was remanded by court waiting trial. Counting of people isn’t new, I read in the Bible while kings and prophets would order for the counting of their subjects. That was a time when human beings would speak direct to God, the religious leaders teach us today that after the man sinned against God his relationship with his Creator was spoilt leading to a number of penalties that included death and several others. The direct communication with God by human beings also stopped and that’s why we must plead forgiveness of our sins all the time.
Some understanding preachers argue that even Jesus Christ was born in the days of counting and that’s why his parents took him for registration immediately after being born. They also say that in the Bible we’ve books like “Numbers” which relate to counting. Before the start of the exercise I saw the leader of the Anglican church in Uganda mobilizing all Anglican christians to participate in the national census, the Catholic Church did them same. Now one wonders where these sects that stop people from being counted have come from.? They’re all mislead, brainwashed and a danger to the society, the fact that they’ve been able to convince some people to join them means they’ve capacity to convince more to also joins them.
The rising numbers of many religions and churches in all parts of the country have contributed to insecurity, nowadays people claim to be prophets and give misleading information that leads to permanent conflicts in the community and people end up killing each other. When someone dies in the village a pastor will prophecy that it’s the neighbor who bewitched him and the next thing will be people using pangas to kill each other, torching houses and putting down gardens. This is added on the imparting permanent hatred in the people and spreading disunity among them. There’s no community which works for development when they’re divided, it’s even difficult to mobilise them for development when they’re divided. Government Programs like the parish development model calls for forming SACCOs and looking for a project to work on together and of which the government send funds directly for support. As government we’ve attempted to get Ugandans out of poverty especially focusing on the big percentage which is still stuck in the substance kind of economy. I believe the increasing numbers of religions contribute to the increasing numbers of poor people in the country. Thousands of Ugandans spend time in church than they spend at work. Most pastors hold prayers in the midweek and during weekend. This is added on the overnights that they hold. I’m told that during prayers the followers are asked to contribute money and of which they willingly contribute. When do they work for that money?
Uganda has had bad history on cults, in the year of 2000 people were burnt to ashes in Kanungu on the foolery that they were going to meet to their creator. We seem to have forgotten and failed to draw lessons from it. The bad history of politics based on sectarianism has continued to haunt us. Our country ‘s politics are affected by the faith which we subscribe to, I have read that in the past governments people hated each other because of religion to the extent that some killed each other. Up to now there are some parents who cannot allow their children to get partners from the opposite faith, some go as far as disowning their children when they forcefully get partners who do not belong to their faith. Some politicians also take advantage of that to divide the people in order to get their support and votes. But how long will this continue to be a problem? why can’t we come up with a strategy to regulate churches and faith.? Is the problem of Uganda religion and lack of prayers? Or it’s negativity towards work and wasting time in none productive things? How shall we reduce the numbers of the people who still stuck in substance kind of economy when we allow these kind of religions in our communities?
The writer is a deputy RDC Sheema District.
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