Workers Member of Parliament Sam Lyomoki has written to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and criticised her for visiting a shrine. He also warned her of dire consequences like death, for failing to follow God’s ways.
‘What you have done to worship those demons and spirits in Busoga is an abomination and a terrible defilement of the seat of Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, a God fearing nation with the motto “for God and our nation”! Let me pronounce this as a servant of God: if you don’t publicly apologize and repent to God then the judgment of God on you is at hand and very soon. When this happens then the people of Uganda shall know that there is God in Uganda, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, the God of Isaac and the God of Elijah!,’ Dr Lyomoki wrote in an May 22 email copied to the staff of Parliament.
On Saturday Kadaga, a member of the Baisegaga clan, visited her ancestral roots on Nhenda Hill in Nakigo sub county of Iganga district, where she visited a shrine to reportedly ‘thank’ her ancestors for enabling her become the Speaker of the 10th Parliament.
By press time it was not clear whether the Speaker had received Dr Lyomoki’s email but the move has elicited mixed reactions from critics and supporters, who have given divergent views on the Speaker’s shrine visit, and Dr Lyomoki, who is reportedly a born again Christian, has given Kadaga biblical 18 examples of how God punishes those who offend Him and asked the Speaker to apologise.
However, according to Busoga traditional folklore, the Baisegaga are supposed to pay a visit to their ancestral shrine in Nhenda at least once a year for blessings.
Kadaga is not the first politician in Uganda to openly visit a shrine; in December 2004 then Vice President Prof Gilbert Balibaseeka Bukenya visited a shrine at Kassewalaga in Masaka, allegedly to get blessings from his ancestors that would ensure Uganda is peaceful and also that his boss, President Yoweri Museveni, gets elected for a third term.
At the time, just like now, Bukenya was ridiculed by many Ugandans who argued that his actions were in direct conflict with the Ugandan motto ‘For God and My Country’, which puts God above the traditional spirits that are revered by traditionalists.
