Why has witchcraft become acceptable in Uganda?

By Rev. Dr. Grace Karamura

I attended a church service at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero, Kampala, where the Rev. Dr Medard Birungi preached about witchcraft in the Church. Armed with statistics, apparently Uganda ranks third after Nigeria and Gabon.

The shocking reality was the revelation that the countries mentioned, especially Nigeria and Uganda, are predominantly Christian countries with fire-spitting pastors and churches mushrooming everywhere.

What is it that has caused the prevalence and re-emergence of witchcraft in Uganda to the extent that it has become an acceptable alternative to our main stream religions, Christianity and Islam?

I use the word ‘acceptable’ deliberately because until a few years ago, witch-doctors and their practices were something abhorred by society, at least on the surface. People would hide under the cover of darkness to visit witch-doctors. Today, witchcraft has become an alternative and acceptable form of treatment and religion.

Witch-doctors have risen to a level of reverence like that of our religious leaders in the country. I understand they are now a registered and recognised group in their own right.

They advertise their services on radios and newspapers promising what even Jesus or Muhammad for that matter wouldn’t! Whereas in the eighties and before, they operated undercover due to the social stigma and power of the Church, they now have clinics where even the cream of our society isn’t ashamed to visit them in the broad day-light. What has gone wrong?

People visit them for all perceived reasons; to hit it lucky with promotion at work, have a violence-free marriage, getting a woman/man to marry, good performance at school, defeating our opponents in elections, etc.

But does witchcraft really work? If it does, why was Uganda stuck with Idi Amin for eight years? The way some parts of Uganda hated Milton Obote, why didn’t he just melt away into thin air? During Amin’s era, even the most pious bishop would probably have given a nod in favour of anything that would remove him.

I have on several times heard people advertising on the radio that they have powers to make their clients wealthy. Why don’t they simply take the medicine themselves and free themselves from the daily torment of going from market to another looking for customers?

The shocking reality is that witchcraft has penetrated our traditional churches which were formerly firm ground against such practices. A case in point is a woman, Jennifer Nduhura, from Mbarara who recently claimed that she was trafficking to and sacrificing people ‘under the sea’.

Apparently there is a lot of wealth under there that with the appropriate sacrifice; one is guaranteed a good and comfortable life. From such, so she claims, quite a few Ugandans have become tycoons. Sadly, becoming rich has become synonymous with having been under the sea; a false claim that has left people’s names tarnished.

To acquire that wealth, she claimed human sacrifice is mandatory; that she had the power to cause carnage on our roads after which she would gather parts of their bodies and blood that are essential for the rituals.

The whole narrative on TV West was so repulsive but since the airtime was sponsored by the Church, I thought it was worth sitting through.

Her narrative exposed us as a Church that we still have much to do against divination and the like other than simply burying our heads in the sand. It was also her personal testimony having accepted Christ as her personal saviour.

However, in view of human life involved, the number of people killed and sacrificed, I would have expected the Police in Mbarara to take keen interest. Not to necessarily arrest her, but to interview her, to shed more light on who else is involved. Whether or not she was under an influence of a certain power is immaterial to the law. She could be pardoned partly due to her voluntary confession but only after the Police had looked into the authenticity of her claims.

I find it mind-bogging to say the least that someone can claim such supernatural powers and we believe and take it at its face value. Alice Lakwena claimed such invincibility while thousands of her followers were being mowed down by machine guns during the northern Uganda insurgency. The invincible Lakwena and her magic water melted away into Kenya where she spent the rest of her life in exile.

Coming back to the Mbarara woman, she was the vehicle, so she claimed, for taking people for sacrifice and those looking for wealth under the sea but what we don’t seem to have asked her is which sea or lake it is; the way to it and how she and her team went down there.

If it is indeed true that there is money down there, why isn’t she a billionaire having gone there those many times? Moreover her clients are supposedly rich!

Shouldn’t we be asking her what type of money it is considering that paper money can’t survive under the sea; how many coins can one bring from down-under considering their weight?

If indeed there is such a lake with such wealth, wouldn’t the Government have gazetted it as a national treasure by now? Every politician would be running there to scoop as much for the 2016 elections.

We are commanded to believe but faith without reason becomes heresy in itself. It is one thing to listen to someone’s testimony and another to absorb it whole.

This is where the Revival Movement excelled. Where they thought there was a hint of exaggeration, they would put someone aside and nurture them out of falsehood. They were able to discern what was and wasn’t of the spirit.

I have watched some pastors and others claiming all sorts of powers but which are only dispensed at the pastor’s discretion and benefit. There is a minimum amount below which the pastor will not spend his energy and voice. Raise the stakes and he will raise the voice. Where are we heading to!

The writer lives and works in the UK: E-mail: tuungi2014@gmail.com