From the beginning of time we have heard the tales about our ancestry and how on multiple occasions our forefathers claimed so many attributes and achievements due to the involvement or intervention of a higher power or source that is unnatural or ‘super-natural’.
Yes, as a country full of diverse cultures and different ethnicities, Uganda can only but become a country that adheres to the ever present alchemy that is religion; from the very motto of Uganda, ‘For God and My Country’, to the various different institutions that represent different walks of faith right down to the very households that practice what a Reverend or Sheikh taught during that congregating hour.
Any Ugandan (here or abroad) can relate with the statement that: ‘Uganda is a highly religious country’ and with the freedom of worship we have seen, many faiths come up and openly practice without hindrance from society. However, it all becomes a bit muddled when some sects don’t adhere to the stereotypical norms that shape most faiths in Uganda.
Countless times an average citizen has walked by a newsstand and read an article in one of Uganda’s prominent tabloids and gotten ‘enriched’ with the knowledge of a new practice that goes solely against the beliefs, values as well as the practices that define various faiths in the community. Also, countless times many prominent figures, businessmen, socialites, celebrities and now politicians have been accused of indulging in such actions that blaspheme the religious institutions, despite many of them openly claiming an affiliation to various religious organizations.
Indeed, we can take a moment and revisit the past to a time when child sacrifices had become a trend in Uganda, with a number of families falling victim to this gruesome practice all in the name of attaining wealth. Then along came the irreparable damage of the homosexual antics; some public figures indulged that sparked off the anti-homosexual campaign that was led by individuals such as Pastor Martin Sempa and finance and planning minister David Bahati (MP)among others, forcing many western influences in Uganda to either pull back or stop entirely functioning within Uganda.
In the year 2011, a number of videos and articles were released claiming the existence of a secret society commonly known as the ‘Illuminati’ and its agenda to turn or persuade as many people (particularly talented youth) to the practice of worshipping the devil.
Despite the level of fear that these texts ignited within so many Ugandans they were still dismissed as baseless, hearsay and well just rumours and nothing more due to the lack of substantial evidence or a public figure testifying openly to being associated with these secret societies thus confirming its true existence.
Before we had Roger Mugisha and his confessions of worshipping the devil together with his Shadows Angels, witchcraft has always been practiced amongst us for a long time dating even back to the time when Jesus and his disciples walked the earth. However, it was always engaged and practiced within the shadows; relying on discretion and secrecy as keys to its survival over time. Which leads to the question as to where the sudden boldness and courage these secret societies have recently mustered in order to come out and declare their existence and influence in so many sectors of society, be it in politics, the economy or even in the ordinary Ugandans’ day to day life. Why now?
Recently, the nation witnessed the Speaker of Parliament Ms Rebecca Kadaga visit her ancestral home and paying homage to her ancestors in respect to her winning the NRM primaries, somehow contradicting her image as a strong believer in the age old faith of Christianity that abhors any form of worship that isn’t directed to God or Jesus.
Shortly after that a one Jeff Kiwa, a city socialite, was implicated in the murder of a six-year old boy from Busia, who was beheaded by his older brother allegedly at the imploring of Kiwa on promise that the said killer Herbert Were would join the Illuminati and thus attain a humongous amount of wealth.
It is easier for one to dismiss such rumours and hearsay about ritual sacrifices and witchcraft when one reads or hears about it all the way from Hollywood that is also famous for its involvement in satanic worship and having the most number of people claimed to be members of secret societies that are also based on satanic ideologies.
The level of awareness of so many individuals concerning these occult rituals and secret societies has grown to an extent that it has corrupted the notion that ‘hard work pays’; any new form of prosperity or wealth attained instantaneously by any individual puts him/her in the spotlight as a new recruit to the worship of the devil or the ‘selling of one’s soul’, as most people put it.
Indeed, many artistes both local and international have been accused of selling their souls for money and fame and having had to sacrifice their kindred as pre-requisite to join these cults and then gain whatever it is their hearts desire, as was the case with a naïve Were of Busia. In an article released earlier this year Breitbart writer Frances Martel writes about the increase in child sacrifices by witch doctors during election season.
Shelin Kasozi, who works with Kyampisi Childcare Ministries, stated that cases of child sacrifice was more common during election time due to beliefs that blood sacrifices would bring wealth and power. Also, in Tanzania officials had to warn against the sacrifice of albinos, a vice that is believed to provide wealth and power. At the time of the warning about 70 albinos had been sacrificed, prompting the Tanzanian government and other organizations to forge an iron fist in order to stop the killings of albinos.
So, when a citizen of Uganda wakes up to the ‘breakfast’ of Ms Kadaga’s visit to a shrine, should they rejoice at the fact that their vote counted in ensuring her victory or fear that somewhere in this blessed land of Uganda a family weeps at the loss of a loved one at the hands of witch craft and its self preservation? Should we appreciate the music and art that so many talented artistes produce today without having to feel guilty that we might be indirectly participating in the mockery of God and the church?
Many, especially Christians, have likened the re-occurrence of these events to the coming of the ‘end times’ or the ‘second return of the Messiah’, when the world was plunged into the darkness and the worship a different ‘god’ depicted as the anti-Christ or beast in the Bible. Others have mainly focused on the inhumane nature of these practices and attributed it to the moral decay of today’s generation and society whilst some others refuse to acknowledge the existence of such cults or societies and refuse to accept the idea that they might indeed coexist with others capable of such evil and abominations.
However, with the constant discoveries of these new practices and their new initiates one cannot help but stop to think and ask as to what really runs their country? Community? Or home? Are the values and teachings instilled in to so many of us from a very tender age been the all for the sole purpose of maintaining the façade of democracy that we live today? Another good question would be to ask where Uganda is headed five or more years down the line.
Ivan Mpiira, 31, a counselor at a Transformative Centre in Kampala and senior member of Victory City Church in Ntinda states that the only reason as to why an individual would wake up one morning and involve themselves wholeheartedly into such extremities in order to attain wealth and fame is because they lack the idea of ‘self’. Because of that, he adds, so many people have placed value in so many externalities other than themselves in order to gain significance and identity.
“Someone will value themselves basing on the car they drive or the amount of money they earn. If someone, let’s say valued themselves by just who they were and not the materials they possess, they would begin to see others under that same light causing them to value them as humans like themselves not a means to an end,” Mr Mpiira notes.
He also blames the new age of technology and social media as another catalyst to the growing degradation of society, saying that it has disillusioned so many youths.
“They (youth) have become so dependent on the media and gadgets of the era that one has become so distant from themselves that one forgets who they are; that they are capable of doing anything as long as it is ‘trending’”, he adds .
Asked about human sacrifice, Mr Mpiira explained: “As humans we are naturally born selfish. Even Adam and Eve were selfish when they ate the fruit and thus the lust, the need to have more and more can easily drive someone to do what was previously deemed unimaginable.”
This he also attributed to a mindset, exemplifying by referring to the colonial times when the Europeans colonized many African colonies. “When the colonialists took over back in the day, not only did they destroy any traces of self esteem, they also brainwashed us in that they become our masters and a servant tries their best to always emulate their superior, because master knows best. And we see it today, with so many of our youths trying to align themselves to whatever it is that the West throws at them. It’s no wonder that these Illuminati theories are beginning to trend and take form and shape,” Mr Mpiira notes.
