From Father to Son...

Below are some of my Dad’s thoughts he wanted shared in the newspaper media. He sent them to Crusader and New Vision in 1998 but said they were probably never published. Ask Capital FM’s Saturday Night Fever Deejay Alex Ndawula about his book “Talking about Talking” and he might tell you more exhilarating stuff about the wit of the man who used to stay near his wife Drucilla (Magezi)’s crib in the late 1980s (Jinja).

“Many Ugandans do not care for each other”
Why is there poverty among the people when Uganda has plenty of riches? Why are there street children and beggars? Why are the towns dirty? The answers to these and other bad situations lie in the lack of care for each other. Our leaders in government and other bodies start it all with corruption and embezzlements. Where services would be provided to improve on the conditions for the population, funds are stolen. The people working in such places go without pay or are retrenched without adequate package.
These stolen funds are used to acquire houses, wives, cars, etc. It is not surprising to see a family of four having six cars, not even business vehicles that could employ some other people. Ministers, Managing Directors, Permanent Secretaries and other big men and women employ fellow Ugandans as electricians, masons, carpenters, painters etc to do work for them while putting up mansions with the stolen money but they do not pay such. They bully them and the small men coil away in their poverty. The big men prefer to go to relax in hotels within and without the country instead of paying the poor workers who would help other dependants. First of all, they have deprived people of salary in one organisation and they do it again in their own set-up. This is malicious. Businessmen are deprived of payment for services and goods supplied to government in good time and this slows down business. Other parastatal bodies providing services to government are also not paid, thus resulting in poor services to the public, delay in salary payments, retrenchments and other evils which perpetuate the vicious circle.
Our leaders live in mansions on two acre lands maintained on public funds, which are obtained by taxing poor workers all their small earnings. If we really cared for each other, we would not need to beg from abroad through organizations like Africa Foundation, Save the Children, Feed the Children, Uganda Forster Parent Plan, Children Welfare Mission, etc to provide these services. The likes of Sanyu Babies Home, UWESO etc would be financed by citizens who have. Have we ever known how these funds which come from abroad are obtained? Some of these are individual savings donated for a cause for humanity all over the world. Ugandans would prefer to burn old clothes instead of donating to a charitable organisation like UWESO. They prefer to sit at joints draining half a million shillings every evening or acquiring more women to have more children some of whom end up in the streets causing more problems. Food is poured into pits and bins instead of being given to the destitute.
Some people own chunks of land but would not allow people to cultivate it for food badly needed by many. [Bringing that idea forward to 10 years later from when this article was written by my father: On Monday 19th May 2008 while being interviewed by WBS TV’s Daniel Arap Moi (Face to Face: “Say it as it is”), Issa Sekitto, the Spokesperson of KACITA said in order for government to solve Uganda’s problem of rising food prices, each household should have a farm where they cultivate…]
People instead crowd in town shacks on metre pieces of land. When a good planner suggests a document to allow many people own land, landlords go mourning. They incite non suspecting oppressed occupants into believing that the law is bad. Who do you think benefits from the 9000 square miles of land? Is it not the ministers who would be allocated that land and continue to oppress the occupants for whom they do not care?
The small people have also got their share of not caring for each other. They throw rubbish anywhere anytime claiming that someone is earning by cleaning. Why don’t you use the rubbish bins and save someone time to do other things? People even throw rubbish on staircases, on some people’s compounds and on public paths. What do you think of others who use these areas? Just walk into flats like Bugolobi, Buganda Road and others and find what I mean. Places like Universal House on Luwum Street, City House and others should not even hold offices, as they are smelly with urine and faeces on the corridors. Ugandans are careless. Do we need experts to advise on hygiene? If we say Kisenyi, and Kamwokya lack facilities to collect rubbish, how about the other places mentioned above. You just see a well dressed person walking across the street eating sweets or biscuits; or smoking and all of a sudden he throws down the wrapper when a well painted city council bin is in front of him. In the villages, it is even a crime to keep the surroundings of your home clean. All plastic bags will be thrown under your fence or on your path. You either continue to pick them up or get annoyed or leave them but then cholera will not spare you. People do not need your music so why blast it out? Fellow Ugandans, who read these comments, please change for the better.
(The manuscript from which I copied this data was produced by John Galia, a friend to my dad from Tara, Maracha? on 29th September 1998)

“Christianity and the Changing World”
In the early times when Christianity was introduced in this country, the leaders were mostly whites from various European countries.
One was taught to read, write and accept the teachings to become a Christian. It was a conversion from old beliefs to new ones. Once a Christian, one was a new person but equal to his teachers apart from the teachers being more learned. Everyone was a Christian, full stop. There were no issues of some being more Christian than others and the teachers showed no sign of that.
Those of us who accepted Christianity then knew that certain behaviours were to be avoided and once one did that one was a good Christian. All sorts of dancing were not acceptable nor were some instruments allowed. Shouting and yelling was un-Christian.
As time passed by, things did not remain as before. Many indigenous people became learned and read so many books. More foreigners came into the country with their different cultures. These cultures have taken root in Christianity. The same Bible is still being read and the same hymns being sung with modifications to suit the situation. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and does not change. That being the case, why the changes in the way we praise him? The very items refused in the past like dancing, shouting and yelling are now acceptable by various groups. Youth can no longer go to ‘dull’ churches because they enjoy music more than anything else. And the dancing! Is there a difference between such dancing and that of Pepe Kale, Lucky Dube and others? Even when the word GOD is used in hymns, so it is in the other songs.
Are we on the right track in our religion? In the past, religion united people as one family. In one church, there were no divisions between family members, couples and all the Christians. Nowadays you will hear such things like saved people, converts, and people with or without the Holy Spirit in them. I was in my local church one time for a meeting and there was so much division there that attendance in the church was dwindling. The reason was that some people considered without Holy Spirit in them were not allowed to participate in leading service. The qualification to have the Holy Spirit was to declare that one was saved. You can hear children talking of daddy or mummy’s church. They do not pray together with their parents except at nursery age. They do exactly opposite of what the parents do or teach.
If we are following the unchanging GOD and our beliefs are based on the Bible which is what was left by eyewitnesses of GOD’s work on earth in the past as we believe, how come we change the teachings of the Bible by change of terminologies, phrases, and our own judgement? Are we saying that the early teachers of the Bible were not knowledgeable about the Bible? We nevere refused preachers, lay readers to have Holy Communion even when they were not wedded in church. In 1950s and 60s, most of those leading in church were not church wedded. Does this mean that the teaching then was fake? It was a necessity for one to accept Christianity on his own accord but babies are now made Christians and many of these divert after coming of age.
We have seen that the way people tend to conduct Christianity has made Christianity a dividing doctrine rather than what the teachings were meant to do. Christianity is one, that is the doctrine concerning Christ. The way the world is changing has made people also change methods of worship. People’s behaviours have changed and Christianity teachers are bending to those changes also. They consider the old methods archaic. But is that correct?
Saved people believe that there is no better Christian than one who has declared that he/she is saved. The Bible teaches us that no one is saved except by the Grace of GOD. So how can one really say or know one has a place in heaven? Is it the public announcement declaring your sins or is it what you do in your life according to the teaching of the Bible which saves you? GOD sees in secret so must we open to anybody other than GOD? How sinless are the people one declares to? These issues are really controversial and when one brings them up like this, it is considered as devil’s work.
There have been so many reasons why people have done things in their lives including having church affairs. One may want to achieve something by being in a certain group and if the best way is by doing something acceptable to that group, one will do it without believing in it. I mean here for example, I may declare that I am saved because I want the favour of a priest or some other person for a scholarship, job, etc. you will notice that the moment one achieves the goal, he or she may drop the belief. Many ‘missionaries’ have come for other purposes but under the guise of strong Christian beliefs or being born again. As the world has become so diverse with issues, being a member of a certain group may give one a consolation from world’s problems and Christianity is good at achieving that.
Some Christian groups think theirs is the best belief. Someone told me recently that if I want to get the true GOD, I should join Pentecostal Churches. Isn’t this a division in Christianity? Others believe in healing power without medicine and have caused deaths by denying people medical attention. Are these any different from traditional healers who consult spirits? Even the traditional healers are wiser in that they still give herbs which cure and not the spirit power alone. I think GOD has given us the world and all the good things to use and one good gift is to sustain life with the help of medicine. All the faculties of seeing, thinking, deciding are given to us to help ourselves. The saying is that GOD helps those who help themselves. You are given eyes to see both good and bad things and on seeing danger, other faculties allow you to escape. Teachers of some Christian groups will feel they have succeeded in preaching if they convert people. They do not realize that by so doing they are bringing divisions. As I mentioned at the beginning, becoming a Christian is a conversion already and the constant teachings delivered should make one judge oneself and inwardly change for better. What use is it to declare your sins and out of church, you commit the same again: Backbiting, anger, quarrelling, jealousy, name it and you have not changed?
Can a Christian really overcome the problems of life in this changing world and particularly in urban areas? To me the answer is “No”. This is a sincere and life experience answer. Take your family which should be your first contact. You cannot convince all your children to follow your beliefs. If you fail that, can you convert all the others? You will always face resistance in your attempt to reach others. Come to money problems. Much as you would not like to be indebted, you will be forced to. You even become selfish. Just imagine, the only way you can have food is with money and you only have enough to care for your immediate family. I do not think you will give it away to feed someone else. You become unsociable because you do not have the money to travel or contribute for functions. Segregation is common, either due to differences in beliefs, clans, education, marital status, etc. you even notice at functions where Christian equality fails.

By James Dramani (1998)