Why I walked against corruption - Pastor Kayanja

By Pastor Robert Kayanja - Miracle Centre Cathedral, Rubaga

Let me refresh you on an episode that happened to me in 1984 as I was praying and counseling over 200 people at our Kiwempe church at Kabuusu, Rubaga, Kampala.

A mother brought her daughter mentally disturbed and the line of people was so long as they came in one by one. After three hours, this mad girl shouted at her mother in Luganda and she said;

"Naye maama na'we, tunasiiba wano? Ah! Gwe olowoza yye Kayanja alya ttaka? Bako kyovamu atukoleko tugende! (But mom, are we going to spend the whole day here? Do you think Pr. Kayanja is not a human being? Cough up something so that he can prioritize us and we go home.)

Oh, Uganda! Even mad people understand the effects of corruption.

The corrupt have been succeeding because the country has been sleeping. We have been doing the talk: Now it is time to walk the talk. All of us must recruit ourselves to be whistleblowers.

I believe the best gift we could give to each other and to our families for the good of the country would be to fight corruption. A corrupt-free Uganda starts with me.

As part of the organizing committee of the anti-corruption walk, I would like to thank the chief walker, H.E the President of Uganda, the organizers, the walkers and mostly, the Almighty God who gave us the strength and the good weather in order for us to walk.

Why I walked
Since time immemorial, God has used the walking of man for or against to achieve a greater good. In the scriptures, the wall of Jericho stood in the way of God's people, stopping them from achieving their goal and possessing their land. It was a wall put up and protected by men, just like corruption in Uganda. It is not just a vice, it is organized crime.

Corruption is physical, mental and spiritual. It affects all of us; whether it is the immunized children in Kisoro or the young girls who are demanded sex in order to pass their exams at universities.

Whether it is a sick person at Mulago who continues to suffer from cancer, yet a vital machine broke down because of negligence, or an old man who has served the country for the past 40 years but struggles to get his retirement benefits or communities which do not have access to proper drugs because of pharmacies selling fake drugs, corruption affects us all.

Let all know that after you have gotten your slice off the blood money, it will be your family that will inherit the curse as the president said on 4^th December at Kololo. Corruption is like setting your own hut on fire and expecting your neighbor's house to burn down. It will be your babies, one day that will burn in the house.

I walked because I know that the wall of Jericho fell down after the people of God walked around it. They walked around it seven times and on the seventh time, it crumbled.  

I would like to congratulate all the anti-corruption agencies, especially the State House Anti-corruption Unit led by Col. Edith Nakalema and her staff for spearheading the walk.

ANTI CORRUPTION GOLDEN BULLET
With all these departments in place, including the anti-corruption court, why are we failing to destroy this cancer? The next step should be shouting to the wall of Jericho (naming, shaming the corrupt and paying restitution.)

Our Lord, Jesus Christ took a walk to Jerusalem. He had been there numerous times to attend various feasts and prayer days, but this time He realized that the temple had been turned into a den of thieves.

Uganda has become a den of thieves - overcharging people, lying about people, sabotaging progress, overbidding in contracts, substandard work in the construction of our roads and buildings, the importation of fake materials and drugs, land grabbing from the weak by the strong, etc.

It is shameful that a brand new road requires repair in less than a year. Why do our courts issue injunctions in favor of illegally removing citizens without compensation?

I walked because I believe it will take the people, the government and all civil society to work together, all of us speaking up with one voice and taking the same stand against the spirit of corruption. The church as well must participate because the corrupt are our own members. All the people we are pointing fingers at go to our mosques and churches. It is high time we told them that we are tired of corruption.

I walked because it was a noble cause. I walked because if I don't, then who will?

Our Lord, Jesus Christ drove out the money changers from the temple using his belt against everybody who was corrupting the place of prayer. Uganda is the pearl of Africa, a place of development. It is not a den of thieves.

If there is anything that would destroy us as a country, it would be corruption. All other wars waged against us were from the outside and they failed; HIV, civil war, Kony, Ebola, the instability of the 60s, 70s and 80s, etc.

However, we must fight twice as hard against corruption because while the other wars were from the outside, corruption is a war within us. It undermines integrity, transparency, truth, and utterly destroys the future. Corrupt people are worse than Joseph Kony or Idi Amin and they should be treated as such.

The corrupt are misusing their positions and our country. That is why I appeal to us all to join the fight against corruption.

We can learn from Joshua and Jesus walks. They did the following things;

Shout
The Joshua walk around Jericho culminated in a shout. The people of Jerusalem shouted when Jesus arrived and He said the stones would shout if the people didn't. Ugandans need to shout. We have kept quiet for too long. We need to name and shame the people who are corrupting our country, our name and the nation.

Amnesty
There was a woman in Jericho called Rahab, who collaborated with Joshua's spies. When Israel took the city, her and her family were spared. She was granted amnesty. In the fight against corruption, we must be willing to offer amnesty to those who are willing to repent, return what they have stolen and are ready to surrender and turn from their corrupt ways. This shall be expounded in another episode of this article.

Jesus, after throwing out the thieves from the temple, received their children. He said, out of their mouths comes perfect praise. We are God's children and must act as children. All Ugandans must become as childlike as possible. We should not remain adamant in corrupt ways.

Arrogance is the cover of corruption. I have never seen as many arrogant people as I see today. People grab people's property and threaten to kill them. They go to the land board and threaten the officials there with statements like, "Do you know who I am?"

Joshua warned the people not to touch anything that was unholy. Achan, who touched what wasn't supposed to be touched, was stoned to death together with his whole family because he was the cause of Israel's defeat through his corruption.

When those who are supposed to fight corruption begin to participate in it by receiving bribes to protect the corrupt, they are sentencing themselves to death in the next phase of our quest in development.

Jesus used his belt to whip the thieves and drive them out of the temple.

Leaders are usually threatened that if they use their belt as a whip, their pants will fall, but I have seen His Excellency fight all the way since the 1960s; fighting backwardness among the Ankole cattle-keepers, joining the UNLF and fighting Amin in the 70s, fighting the oppressive forces in the 80s and liberating the country, fighting to bring development to the people of Uganda. I know that he can fight corruption, but I believe there might be people around him who threaten that if he pulls his belt, his pants will fall.

Mr. President, your pants can't fall. You are loved, supported and God is on your side. We pray, Mr. President, start using your belt. You are the commander in chief. In the army, the common weapon used is the gun, so Ssabalwanyi, piga lisasi!

This is how Uganda will be brought back on the path to fulfill our destiny.

If our country can overcome corruption, all eyes will be on Uganda as God has said and as all other studies have shown, we will be the pearl and the breadbasket of Africa. We will be the missionary centre that sends out the best in Africa that the world has ever seen.

Merry Christmas. A corrupt free Uganda is the special gift of Christmas that I offer you.