Faith based organizations and religion has had an influence on Ugandan politics since colonial times with the late 19th century religious wars,sectarian post independent governments such as Uganda People’s Congress associated with the protestant faith and Democratic Party (Deeni ya Paapa) associated with the Catholic faith.
The interrelations of religion and politics in Uganda have altered since the coming to power of president Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) , and religion continues to influence Ugandan public culture and formal politics.
This stems from the fact that political manoeuvres have, in one way or another, an impact on members of society who listen to sermons of religious leaders on the media and in their respective places of worship.
A growing discontent is being echoed by some sections of the clergy in Uganda thus a growing trend of the disgruntled Men of God who have used their sermons to critic the person of the president and his NRM government.
This article is going to focus on some of these disgruntled Men of God and their relationship between depoliticisation and politicization of religion in Uganda.
The fact that no political rally nor procession will ever gather the crowds that attend Ugandan churches on Sundays and mosques on Fridays, the highly religious character of public culture in Uganda will guide this article.
The crowds that gather to pray, praise and listen to sermons in churches and mosques across the country, far out number those attracted by rallies and processions. What religious leaders preach to their sheep and do within those religious spaces and in public debate in Uganda is of consequence for the country’s politics as further discussed with individual examples in the analysis below;
Father Gaetano Batanyenda
The parish chief of Kitanga Catholic Parish of Kabale Diocese, an ordained priest who has taken a partisan and pro opposition stance as his political orientation. This disgruntled Man of God is never short of criticism of the president and his NRM government.
In a press conference in Kabale, last Wednesday,the ordained priest equated Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Hon.Kyagulanyi Sentamu alias Bobi Wine to Jesus Christ.
The priest is part of the group that is fronting the narrative of Bobi Wine as a political messiah with similarities to the “Biblical Moses” who rescued the Israelites from bondage in Egypt and Bobi Wine to rescue Ugandans from perceived bondage of Museveni.
What kind of desparacy pushes an ordained priest to draw comparisons between Jesus Christ and Bobi Wine? It is time then that Bishops and parishioners should begin questioning Father Gaetano’s priesthood.
Sheikh Nuhu Muzaata Batte
The public relations officer of the Kibuli Muslim sect is a top critic of the government who will use his sermons to publicize his discontent in the president and government. His discontent stems from a myopic sectarian view of Muslim exclusion from top government leadership.
This disgruntled Man of Allah clearly has no knowledge on what makes statesmanship and meritocracy that has seen the president, vice president, speaker of Parliament and chief justice who all coincidentally subscribe to the Christian faith, their ascension to power has nothing to do with faith, but rather individual merit.
The sheikh has also booked a seat on the Bobiwine band wagon acting as self appointed counsel who rushed to defend the Kyadondo East legislator’s ignorance on fiscal policy.
Arch Bishop Jonah Metropolitan Lwanga
The leader of the Orthodox church in Uganda used His Easter message to prophesize the collapse of the NRM government siting that the party has disturbed the nation so much.
He says, “we are going to suffer human rights abuse until the NRM is dissolved. And it (NRM) is going to dissolve very soon. I say this prophetically ,it is not going to be there because it has disturbed this nation very much. It is going to dissolve”.
However, this disgruntled Man of God was playing pure politics in a deliberate ploy to lobby the president as evident on Sunday with the commemoration of 100 years of the Orthodox church on May 5th.President Yoweri Museveni donated shs. 300 million towards construction of the Uganda Orthodox Cathedral at Lubya hill in Rubaga division.
The president donated shs.30 million in cash and pledged a further shs.270 million.The president also contributed shs.80 million to the SACCO of church members and another shs.20 million to the SACCO of Orthodox priests.
Bishop David Zac Niringiye
This disgruntled Man of God took an early retirement in June 2012 to advocate for “peace, justice and better leadership ” in Uganda. The Anglican Bishop born in Bufumbira,Kisoro in 1954 and rose to prominence for his efforts in stopping what he called a humanitarian crisis during the militant actions of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda.
The Bishop is a disciple of defiance and the face of the “Black Monday Movement”,an initiative that aimed to combat corruption and embezzlement in Uganda.
The above analysis shows that despite the striking differences between the various faith based organizations, Uganda’s clerics’ teachings on politics show a growing trend of discontent in the NRM government and the president.
The discontent stems from individualism with strategic calculations from some religious leaders in relation to perceived patronage and the over politicization of life in Uganda where everyone wants to be engaged in politics as vehicle for improvement.
What is clear though is that the state is tolerant to these dissenting views showing the level of political democratization the country has enjoyed under the NRM government.
