Throwing the Baby out with the bath water

I have not felt the unction to specifically pray about COVID-19 per say, but during this period I have felt a deeper pull to take in as much personal time with God as I can. 

Really ? !  I hear someone say back there. Well,  let me explain; when this year started out, I was feeling weary from lots of fasting in 2019. So I told the LORD that I would do a week a month at most through 2020. I did that for January and February. However mid February I felt a very strong and deep unction to fast and pray starting March 1^st 2020 for 3 weeks. I actually wanted to do a vegetable and fruit fast for the period. Because I never wanted to interrupt my exercise regimen I ended up fasting for 12 – 18 hours a day on fluids and leaving out about 2 days a week for my exercise. I however determined to do the vegetable and fruit fast with fluids for the last week. I put my gym trainer on notice that I would not show for that week. By the end of that fast, the Uganda lock down drama had started. What was I fasting for ? That I may draw closer to Him in my walk with Him. I determined at the beginning of the year that my prayer item would be that.

Now today, I do not have to drive through a traffic jam (3-4 hours daily saved). Then I do not have to make time to dress up. I can directly hit my work bench and deliver on my work related outputs with ease. by 5 pm I am able to align myself to do the family alter, have time for myself on other personal development, get to bed early, and then engage in midnight prayer watch. So for me the lock down is an opportunity for the church to sharpen up.

Initially I did not understand, but as soon as I tuned in, the instructions from God of how to use this time started coming in. Those that have gone before us desired to see this time but to no avail; my pastor friend called it "Sabbath" ! the LORD has called the entire earth to a global Sabbath. But Sabbaths were meant to draw Holy convocations. Sabbaths were meant to be times of rest, reflection and personal retreat in order to revive one’s spirit. The Reference in the book of Hebrews about sabbath talks about “Entering into His rest”; His shalom !

On another front however, there has been increasing prophetic direction for the church and the nation. Many of these words do not look good and can conjure up fear if one is not careful to perceive them correctly. This is the time also the aversion of a number of Christians to gift like prophesy has become very apparent. I have bumped into a number of professing Christians that will not hear of a prophetic word, or a word of knowledge as they call is all fake! Now, I understand the effect of the false prophets; what however I do not understand is why a child of God will totally reject a mode that YAHWEH Elohim has opted to use down through out the ages. Now, if we are all crying out to God, but will not accept Him to talk back to us, why do we cry out at all? Or have we fallen so far away that we now believe in a God that does not speak? Are we not the ones making the words of God of non effect? Jesus said in Mark 7:13 "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." He was addressing the Pharisees who were now emphasizing tradition as if it were the oracles of God and as a result, they had grown insensitive to the workings of the Spirit.

Today we are quick to judge anyone that calls us to order or discipline as a "law" governed Christian, a “Pharisee of Pharisees”. We do not seem to appreciate that in pursuit of our pains and hurt, rather than the proper working of the gifts of God, we have now created our own version of god; it has a form of Godliness, but lacking the real power thereof (2 Tim 3:5). To this god, no one can hear from God, for direct instructions about life and Godliness; I have been told by some that those days ended in the book of Acts ! I have shared a number of prophetic words given during this recent pandemic that the entire world is working to wrestle down. I shared these mostly with the children of the House. I have received in some cases some really shocking reactions of straight rejection for the prophetic utterances !

So when God speaks back to us and we block our ears, how then shall we hear ? Another defense I have heard repeated on more than one occasion seems to form the theology of some today; some one asks "how can a loving God do this ?" " how can a loving God even say disaster is coming?"; they have said that their loving God will not give prior warnings about “negative” events to come. They do not realize that according to the tenets of the word of God, when men become evil and wicked, He (God) does not even need to punish them, but  rather allow for nature to revolt. The bible calls it "the land vomiting out its inhabitants" (Leviticus. 18:25 - For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants; Leviticus 18:28 That the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you.)

Nature has a voice; the blood of Abel spoke, the Fig tree the Jesus spoke to heard, and David the psalmists repeatedly refers to trees singing and clapping hands, and mountains jumping. Even Jesus in Mark 11:23 talks of speaking to the mountain, and it obeying the voice of our commands. The land too has feelings; nature has feelings and its only a matter of time before it reacts in repulsion and begins to vomit its inhabitants out of the land. God does not even have to be involved in this process. However, His involvement is in allowing nature to process with its course of action.

So "How can a loving God destroy His people?" He doesn’t! God in His love begins to warn us the day we first err (Isaiah 30:21 - Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.) Problem is that when He speaks to us, we like little spoilt brats will often tempt Him again, the same way your stubborn little son will want to defy your word. So we go off into the opposite direction or pretend we did not hear. So in progression he sends us our pastors, friends or family who site His oracles to us. We still turn the other way and soon our consciences begin to become seared. Progressively we no longer even listen.

Then he sends prophets; ah but remember that we do not believe in them. In that instant we become masters at discernment, and alas every prophet is false, simply because he does not repeat to us what our ears itch to hear (2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;) this is the point at which the child of God begins looking for their own "prophets". At this point now we are our own masters and nothing stands between us and destruction. Even satan at this point will abandon you because you are already in self destruct mode; he has "better use" for his time on more serious Christians. This is the point at which nature takes over, because then it has also had enough. Nonetheless, nature never comes at us without warning; but remember we already have a culture of not paying attention ! Then disaster strikes.

So we run off to pray, and God in His loving self same begins to tell us the very same things He had always wanted to draw our attention to, but then we quite have not yet gotten to the place of humility where we are open to listen to the instructions from the prophets. so we reject the word and the cycle of self destruction repeats itself. Unfortunately, at this point, often times we hold the abort key that enables us to return to sanity.

The question is, "Will you use that key this time round ?"

AT THE COVID-19 JUNCTION: WHICH TURNING DO WE MAKE NOW ?

Recently the world has been overtaken by events triggered by the onset of the COVID-19 infections. No one anticipated the avalanche that has followed after it. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, since the second world war ended, the world has not been brought to such a standstill as this. But God speaks in the calm of the storm.

One evening as I got into my bed, so tired from my days’ work, and wanting to immediately shut down my “systems” and join “the other world” where dreams meet with men, my already tired brain for some reason was taken over by a swift trend of thoughts; my thoughts run away with me but into the future however mostly around this COVID-19 thing and its impact on our global economy. Eventually it came to a stop; at this point the thought in my mind went something like this:

    "The world has no idea what it is going to have to handle when COVID-19 is done with it; the Global Economy will be so shaken that to reboot it is going to take huge sacrifices across the globe. No economic model drawn before now really has a clear solution as to how this recovery will happen. It will take serious inertia to get this machine moving again." 

The thought was so weird and yet so profound for me. I dropped it and went to bed. Two weeks later I now realize I was not by myself at that moment. Fast forward: President Trump locked down the U.S borders, then was swiftly followed by multiple European nations, Asian and now, Africa has followed suit. Stock markets have crushed, panic has set in, conspiracy theories are rife, and confident trading is not happening. All this is having cumulative shutdown effect on the Global economy; at some point the shutdown effect becomes exponential and then it runs away and now has a mind of its own. But what does it really mean when you stop a machine like the Global economy? Interesting thing is that it is formed by all the smaller economies across the world.

Money 101: The money cycle has credit somewhere in its structures. When credit is given, often there is terms that govern it to ensure that it is paid back with added value compared to the prevailing environment. This means that a shilling or dollar or any currency given in 2005 should have an equivalent value if it is repaid in 2020. Value of money is determined by what it can do for you at the moment. Thus, often you will find that because of inflation, 1 shilling in 2005 may translate to perhaps 6 shillings in 2020. The figure should have stayed the same, but if it does then the value it returns with the passage of time is significantly less. Then enters Interest rates; these were primarily designed to protect the value of money with the passage of time. Credit is also designed to build in profit for the creditor, so that their money makes more money for them. Now because of stability, the credit system gets ingrained into many of the workings of money and soon it is a given that life must run normally with credit being managed responsibly.

The problem with an adhoc shut down like the one currently imposed on the world by COVID-19 circumstances, no one saw this coming, therefore no one planned for it.  All the disaster recovery plans are relatively so decentralized and narrow is scope and have nothing close to a central command beyond the entities they serve, as they presume nothing of the kind we are currently facing. So suddenly there is a shut down and yet the credit counters keep running; there goes your problem number one. Credit is often paid back by the earnings from one’s business dealings and transactions. But since the system is shut down, earnings are reduced to a mere trickle until eventually, if nothing stops the trends, there is no earnings; in comes the other word "Penalties". Penalties are designed to safeguard credit and ensure that the debtor pays back, or else sink. So the cycle now is loaded further with penalties, but still the debtor, even with all good intentions to pay back, cannot pay since they are not earning.

The thing though is that the lack of earnings also has another perspective and pressure point to it. Debt is not the only need being serviced by a debtors earnings; they also have normal operating costs that consist of the very basics like food, housing, health, transport, utilities, etc. But remember that there is severely impacted earnings. Thus, whatever small earning is managed from other sources, this will most probably go to servicing those other needs first, but this leaves the debt growing. Perhaps, even now new lines of debt keep opening, given that the debtor must survive; so they keep taking more debt to service their necessities as highlighted above already. But also note that many peoples wealth is held up in the Global Stock markets, that are right now slumping and crushing, and there is no telling as to what happens to this value after COVID-19.

Remember that this cycle is not at an individual level this time, but is at a global level. You have many such distressed debtors and investors. Soon, the debtor can't service the debt, so it keeps growing. But remember the debtor cannot earn and possibly now are running serious operating losses because revenues are significantly below projections. The manufacturers as well are not moving their stock due to this ailing cycle, and thus are running high Operating costs. Their projected revenues are well are significantly reduced. They too now must cut back, but remember there is always that optimum minimum, below which you only keep losing capital. So, at some point the manufacturers shutdown the production lines to stop the bleeding. This triggers another event; scarcity of goods, which also eventually triggers shutdown of dependent services, and after a little while services also ail, slow down and grind to a halt.  So now, no goods, no services, but people must survive, etc, etc. the cycle keeps working itself.

Eventually the cycle can only be stopped by those privileged enough to have leverage (read "real wealth"). They now must reboot this entire system up by “sowing seed” back into the system to get it running again. Goodwill at all levels must prevail; penalties must be foregone, interest might be written off by debtors, debts will probably be written off, credit must be restructured to align with the prevailing circumstances. There must be patience, and to that understanding by the creditors. after a while, the system begins to come back online, but only this time working differently, and as well with a new set of class of society being born. In this new world, it is those that really know how to work, how to serve, how to handle others, how to make friends, how to see opportunities, that now take over the new "wealthy class".

COVID-19 is going to reconfigure the world. I am not an economist, and perhaps an economist needs to build a model that will run the worst-case scenarios against futuristic parameters and then project for us how to get out of this one. What remains to be seen is how long will it take for COVID-19 to be wrestled down so the world can begin opening its doors, which in turn will trigger the recovery.

Perhaps the good that is likely to come from this is that the world must learn then to return to real community. People must once again break down the barriers of selfishness and work together to lift each other up. I do not see how anyone can be self-reliant in this scenario. The would be a rise and a return to true leadership away from the political leanings of the world today. Law and order is likely as well to return as it is not possible to achieve recovery from this pit without an adept focus on the things that matter, like collective responsibility. The world is also most likely going to return to true work, true earnings, true community, true worship of God and wholesome living.

Save for the benefits above, God help us that this lock down is not sustained for a long time, otherwise this world may not remain the place that we currently know it to be for the reasons above. Rebooting the world economy is the real issue to worry about; COVID-19 is simply a catalyst that must be swiftly stopped as soon as possible. The leaders of the world must put on their thinking hats and get real teams of solid thinkers around them. This transcends selfish interests and will only sink those that keep that old way of thinking.

At a Global level we need God! We also need men and women of wisdom to prevail over nations leadership. This new world abhors vacuums created by a lack of wisdom and brains. At this point I would advise any leader at the helm of nations to get rid of the political types and surround themselves with real leaders, brilliant leaders that are not afraid to deploy strategic thinking, and as well that are not afraid to make the right decisions and recommendations in-spite of political correctness; nations shall need many of those kind of leaders. At an individual level too, this is when having wisdom and a personal net worth of physical fixed assets that far exceed one’s credit may be the game changer when COVID-19 lifts. 

Let us watch and pray !

BAPTISM: HAVE YOU BEEN IMMERSED?

Today we talk about baptism, something that every Christian knows about. In my service as a Minister in the house of God, I have witnessed people being delivered from the demonic as we dipped them in water to baptise them. I have seen others receive the in-filling of the Holy Ghost as this process was being done. Others have testified of significant shifts having happened in their lives. As a child born in the Anglican faith, I was baptised by sprinkling of water. When I later got born again as a teenager, I struggled to accept baptism by immersion. I gave all kinds of excuses until one day when I was about 17 years of age I gave in and got baptised by immersion by a one Reverend Nyanzi our Patron of the Scripture Union at the time.

Perhaps it serves well at this point to get certain definitions away and done with before we delve into the deeper stuff. The word baptism comes from the Greek word "Baptizo"(Strongs: 907) which means the following: to immerse, submerge; to make whelmed (i.e. fully wet); wash; cover wholly with a fluid - clearly anything less than totally under water does not seem to align well with the Greek meaning. My personal doctrinal foundation is: I believe that all New Testament doctrine has clear shadows (precursors) in the Old testament. However in the case of baptism this eluded me until recently when I was studying about the number "FOUR" in relation to a book I am writing (more on my study of "FOUR" in a later blog).

In the bible, the book of Matthew Chapter 3, the episode opens up with a scene of a preacher called John the Baptist. He is preaching a gospel  of repentance and preparing the way of the LORD . This mans lifestyle was one of full surrender to the purposes of God. John preaches so much to that the pharisees, the Sadducees, the soldiers, the tax collectors and many of the "scum of the earth" of his day come to him to be baptised as a way of repentance from their sins and indeed respond to the gospel he preaches. Somewhere along the way, Jesus Christ of Nazareth comes to this John the Baptist, in the wilderness near the Jordan where he is baptising people as a sign of repentance. The eventual conversation between the two men proceeds as follows from verse 14 of that chapter: 

John: "Noooo Jesus! Please don't do this to me !!! I have need to be baptized by you instead; why do you come to me?  

Jesus: "John, let things be as they are. Let us not interfere with this process: I must show by example to everyone by fulfilling all righteousness!" 

[after a long begrudging, contemplative silence, and multiple exchange of looks (as if he were thinking "must I really be doing this?"):]

John: "OK, my LORD! Let’s do this!" 

Scripture says that when Jesus was baptized, He went up straightway out of the water: and, behold, the heavens were opened unto him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Jesus. God in a voice audible to all present said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This was a clear endorsement of both the action of John as being right and the one of Jesus being baptised. Indeed, on the latter Jesus maintained doctrine of baptism and he ensured to pass it on to these disciples as a direct instruction for all new believers. Now, based on this and the emphasis laid on this by the disciplines from the very beginning, the New Testament church ought to align to this. But one thing kept me curious; I kept wondering where John the Baptist had gotten this doctrine from.

I discovered that the doctrine of baptism is all over the Old testament and is as well a key principle in Judaism! You will have to keep with me in order to see the origin of this key principle, which in turn will help us see things more clearly. Baptism, in the very origin is how traditional Jewish women cleanse themselves after the monthly period "When she becomes clean of her discharge, she shall count off seven days, and after that she shall be clean..."  (Leviticus 15:18). The Jews’ are so serious about it that her whole body and hair must go under the water and ensure that she is not touching the walls or floor of the cistern/baptismal (Mikvah - is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity per Old Testament Law). They were also specific about the minimum amount of water that was to be used; it was a minimum measure of 40 “seah" of water (Equivalent to 200 gallons). So, the number 40 in the bible carries some connotation to some of the inferences behind baptism, but that is discussion for another day.

In the book of Joshua 3:5, the revelation at Sinai, all Jews were commanded to Sanctify themselves (i.e. immerse themselves) in preparation for coming face to face with God. Also, Aaron and his sons were treated the same way at consecration to priesthood “…And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate [Read: immerse] them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.” (Ex 30:30). Among the Jews, On Yom Kippur, the holiest of all days, the High Priest was allowed entrance into the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the Temple, into which no other mortal could enter. This was preceded by immersion in the mikvah. Mikvah is also used by men on various occasions; apart from conversion, they are all customary. The most widely practiced are immersion by a groom on his wedding day and by every man before Yom Kippur. Some Jewish men use the mikvah before each Shabbat and Jewish holiday, some even making use of mikvah each day before morning prayer. This Mikvah process is what John the Baptist was doing.

Understanding the Mikvah (Baptismal)

Jewish law states that constructing a mikvah takes precedence even over building a house of worship. They also believe that immersion in a mikvah signals a change in status — or more correctly, an elevation in status, a transformation, or metamorphosis. The water standing for the Spirit, they believe water has the power to purify: to restore and replenish life to our essential, spiritual selves.

Further still, the mikvah personifies both the womb and the grave; the portals to life and afterlife. In both, the person is stripped of all power and prowess. In both, there is a mode of total reliance, complete abdication of control. Immersion in the mikvah can be understood as a symbolic act of self-abnegation, the conscious suspension of the self as an autonomous force. In so doing, the immersing Jew signals a desire to achieve oneness with the source of all life, to return to a primeval unity with God. Immersion indicates the abandonment of one form of existence to embrace one infinitely higher. In keeping with this theme, immersion in the mikvah is described not only in terms of purification, revitalization and rejuvenation, but also, and perhaps primarily, as rebirth. In relation to this, Judaism teaches that the source of all purity, is life itself. Conversely, death is the harbinger of impurity. All types of ritual impurity, and the Torah describes many, are rooted in the absence of life or some measure—even a whisper—of death. Thus, a woman’s menses signals the death of potential life. Each month a woman’s body prepares for the possibility of conception. The uterine lining is built up—rich and replete, ready to serve as a cradle for life—in anticipation of a fertilized ovum. Menstruation is the shedding of the lining, the end of this possibility. The presence of potential life within fills a woman’s body with holiness and purity. With the departure of this potential, impurity sets in, conferring upon the woman a state of impurity. So according to the old law, only immersion in the mikvah, following the requisite preparation, has the power to change the status of the woman. Among the Jews, Mikvah immersion (baptism) was the culmination of the purification rite in every case of impurity stated in the Old testament.

Thus, the concept of baptism as a physical sign of inner purification was not a strange one to John the Baptist, and indeed to any Jew. In fact the Jews that watched John knew exactly what the act meant, thus his comments to those he baptised "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:" (Matthew 3:8) can now make sense because he was simply saying "you are now clean; keep clean." So, Jesus great commission as documented in Matthew 28:18 - 20 states:

"...And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them (repentance and turning away from sin is presumed here) in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

What is clear, baptism is a tenet that transcended the Old Testament, into the New Testament to the extent that our LORD issues this as a command to His church as he leaves for Heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Have you been baptised? Have you been immersed in water as a sign of your turning away from death with true repentance, New Life and new commitment to Jesus, as well as full dependence on Jesus alone?

References:

https://www.betemunah.org/four.html

https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/1541/jewish/The-Mikvah.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh#Requirements_of_a_mikveh

WHERE DID WE LOSE OUR INNOCENCE ?

On February 12^th, 2020 somewhere during the middle of the day, news broke on social media about the passing of a great man, a hero of Uganda. General Benon Biraaro had finally passed on to glory! I cannot explain the level of sadness I felt at his passing as it was profound. I last met the General in person a couple of weeks after the last Ugandan presidential elections. He was taking his early morning walk at the Speke Resort Munyonyo. I remember as he passed by where I was standing, I initiated greetings and a few pleasantries passed between us. He thereafter continued with his morning walk. Already by then rumors had it that he was battling cancer. General Biraaro was an excellent product of the National Resistance Army (NRA) and what it represented.

Many stories have been told of the valiant actions of the NRA bush war heroes. In history it is one of the shortest guerrilla wars ever fought from the beginning to its end, and that so rather successfully. One of the hallmarks of the NRA was the uncompromising discipline of its foot soldiers and all in rank and file of this outfit.

Growing up in Uganda, I watched as the Obote II government special forces wrecked violence and intimidation on the population. I speak of the special forces because I observed daily at their permanent station near my home how young men were mistreated. It was common sight for these young men to be brutally beaten, and that so at any hour you passed by the station, which incidentally was right by the roadside. You got a feeling they did it for sport and the fun if it. I remember feeling lucky that at the time that I looked like, and was, an innocent, young lad that they only saw passing by multiple times a day; they did not bother to stop me nor ask me for anything. This is where I learned to walk with my Identity card! Yes, I said Identity card; never mind that I was still in my single digit years. To date the habit stuck with me. I carry all my key identification documents on my body wherever I am, a weird habit some may say.

The men in green were not any better. In fact, my recollection of soldiers in combat fatigues were during the "Panda Gari" days; you woke up at 5 a.m on any given day to chaos; the residential area would have been cordoned off by soldiers and no male above a certain age could leave; it was almost a crime in those days to be youthful and male. The young men and the stronger older men were usually all herded off often to the nearest sports field where they were made to squat in the sun, and made to do all sorts of demeaning exercises as they awaited a further filter. Usually those unfortunate enough to make the filter never made it back. They literally "disappeared" (we heard in those days that forests like Namanve “dissolved” their often-decapitated bodies). 

This "disappearing" thing one day became reality to me. There was this young single mother that had two boys in my class; She seemed to be doing well. I think she was some sort of businesswoman. She drove the latest Fiat Mirafiori at the time, cream in colour. I recall Andrew and Alex coming to school one Monday morning, telling a horror story of how their mother had been rounded up at home by armed men on the Sunday afternoon, bundled off onto a waiting truck and then taken to an unknown destination. Later that week they seem to have found out where she was being kept and only so as managed a glimpse of a hooded her as she was being herded across the compound to a new location; that was the last they ever saw of their mother: what an image to keep of someone that you loved, and that loved you too! I hurt for them; yes, even as a child it still hurt so badly. I kept wondering what had happened to my friends' mum. Sadly, that story's end hasn’t been told to date.

So, you can imagine the anxiety among us when a new rag tag army, wearing bare threads on their back showed up. We had just been through one military coup the year before where the "Anyanya" militia were brought in; the country jumped from frying pan to the fire. Walking on the streets of Kampala then, if one met a soldier you made a beeline for the nearest cover you could find until the guy had safely passed by. Now in-spite of their misfit aura and despite the way they looked, instead there was a huge discipline that the NRA guerrillas carried along with them. These guys treated the citizens with much respect and exercised much restraint in their transactions. There was this one day when I witnessed a young soldier (he looked to be around 17 years of age) arresting a suspect that  he had apparently witnessed killing off his entire family. The Boy soldier was clearly angry and if it were up to him, he would have "finished off" (read "dissolved") this guy on the spot. But that method belonged to the old guards, not to the new dispensation. He had to effect the arrest and carry this elderly criminal to the nearest detention center to begin his journey to justice, and that he did. 

I remember when the guns fell silent in Kampala on 26th January 1986, they really did fall silent. At first it felt weird going through a night without a single gun shot being fired; months down the road we got used to the new normal. Today, there is many kids that have never heard a gunshot being fired. My first time to carry an automatic weapon was in 1986 when I was 13; this belonged to one of those rag-tag army soldiers. I cannot forget that feeling.

So how did the NRA manage to achieve this paradigm shift on discipline of armed forces? History was not playing in their favor at all. In fact for over 15 years before 1986, the narrative of violence dispensed by the Armed forces had been written and its script was clear and being followed to the letter. How did the NRA manage to change that narrative wherever they went? Stories have been told of the bush war, stories of how that same script attempted to make its way into the NRA, and how it faced the brutal reality that the status quo was not accepted there. Listening to these young soldiers I heard stories of how undisciplined NRA combatants had been handled; the firing squad! 

So, what in NRA amounted to indiscipline? How could an army of angry, hungry and ill-dressed young men and women garner so much discipline and order to follow instructions without wavering to the left or to the right? We are told that you did not steal anything as a member of the NRA; you asked politely for it, and if given, you took it back to the bigger team and shared it together. If you asked and you were not given, you graciously accepted the negative response and moved on. You did not steal even when your life depended on it nor did you revenge. You never raided locals’ gardens to uproot tubers or food to eat it. You did not take what never belonged to you. You did not terrorize the locals. All offences to this rule were met by swift judgment by a counsel and then often ended with the offender facing the firing squad. Even non-consensual sex was punishable by death. So, this army learned to govern their appetites and slowly by slowly a brutally disciplined force was born. 

More than anything else, it is this discipline of the NRA that brought people close to them. People gave their lives literally for them, rather than give them away. To date, when General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni visits those villages, he is treated with much respect by the still surviving locals from those days. They love him to the core and would possibly still die for him. 

Lately, I see a lot of self entitled members of the armed forces. I wonder what happened to the NRA discipline! It is a rather worrying trend when one sees the "Wanainci" being treated as second rate citizens by the ones who should be fighting for their rights. It is a scary situation.

About 5 years ago I was involved in a rather unfortunate incident where a very senior member of the armed forces, notorious for his indiscipline and bully tendencies, unilaterally ordered for a tractor to graze over one meter into our family property. This boundary run for about 50 meters in a rather expensive part of town (count the impact on cost); never mind that his directly adjacent property was saved and untouched as he had fenced it off all the way into the existing demarcated access road. I was swiftly constrained by the villagers not to even attempt reaching out to him otherwise I will be met with a barrage of physical abuse from both him and his guards (he had recently clobbered a boda boda guy that had approached him over unruly driving). I eventually advised my self out of the action simply because he had widened the road which we all were using anyway.

On another day recently last year 2019, men in uniform walked onto a private property and wrecked havoc in broad day light. The issue had to do with a land matter that was before competent decision makers for review and realignment. Apparently (not validated) they had instructions to walk onto this property and terrorize whosoever they found; never mind that the property was an established place of residence and work. They beat, they threatened more violence, they kidnapped (for lack of a better word, given that no warrant of arrest had been issued), they destroyed property. Effect of this trespass was that life for these people took a downturn as they could not manage a meaningful existence in such a work environment. 

It is not uncommon lately to see some gun wielding guy bully a citizen out of their way with impunity. And by the way its no longer the senior guys; the juniors and privates have learned very well from their senior colleagues that have led by example. This is when you know that the "cancer" is at Stage 4. This, in the day of the NRA, was totally unthinkable. The culprits would have received swift and decisive justice which would as well be meted out to them in the very community they violated. These individuals however still walk around freely, looking for another weak "mwanainchi" to devour. One wonders what people now think about men in Uniform. What an abuse of this uniform painted in the valor of those who went before them in the NRA; what an abuse meted out on the sacrifice of the gallant men and women that have gone before them in this very uniform.

In recent time, there has been some gruesome stories of the actions of errant men and women of uniform. Some of the stories are so hard to believe, and yet these are true. There is not enough space for me to repeat these stories here, but the results of such abuse of uniform have been told over and over globally, and they are always the same. Nicolae Ceausescu is a great example to follow for anyone given the responsibility of the uniform; pay very close attention to the lessons from that Romanian Revolution. The uniform requires that one frequently retreats and reviews the actions and responsibility that comes with that uniform, and ensure to recommit to those responsibilities with a new vigor.

I remember stories being told (truth not validated) of the late Paulo Muwanga, possibly the most powerful Vice President Uganda has ever seen. He was such a power center and his directives never went unheeded. Deep in one Masaka village where he hailed from, apparently the villagers were staunch DP party supporters (the most powerful opposition part of the time); he on the other hand was a UPC stalwart. He could not hear of anything else other than just what had UPC emblazoned on it. However, in the case of his village, he made a wild exception. Apparently, he never took it lying down if indiscipline happened in his village or to his villagers (he was Minister of Defence). In addition, he ensured that that he often gifted the villagers with things that were in the green and white colors, the official colors of DP. He understood his people, he loved his people, and he knew no matter how high and mighty he was, these were his people; and they loved him so! Not one evil word has ever issued from that village about the late Paulo Muwanga, inspire of the many cries from else where. The key lesson to learn is that East or West, home is best; so, before long one will soon find them selves back home, and how lonely that home will be if all you have done is agitate the people around you.

There is a way in which evil practices easily and quickly get perpetrated into society. It is almost as if they are simply waiting for someone to just give them a tag and they will run themselves into whatever they can. Good, on the other hand, takes time; it takes time to build anything good but just a moment to ruin it. A lot was invested into Uganda's security, and the price paid for it was blood, the blood of both citizenry and of our gallant men and women in Uniform. What I see in cases like those above is a bunch of bad mannered "boys and girls" that have totally lost their way, and now impose themselves onto the very people they should so carefully be protecting from these very evils. This habit quickly catches on and the cost to take it back is staggeringly high.

My word of advice to the leaders and commandants of the men and women in Uniform, lets protect the honor of that Uniform. Let us protect the legacy of the gallant men and women of these armed forces that have laid down their lives in the process of fighting to protect the liberties of their fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends and countrymen. Let us remember these sacrifices and let us cut off that cancer before it takes the entire body down with it.

SO, I MADE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA... (Part 3)

The Discipline of a nation:

"Mr. President, its time for us to leave now", the Head of Protocol just notified me. I was ushered swiftly into the waiting convoy and as swiftly as I was ushered did, we take off toward the Parliamentary precincts, where I was to deliver my Inaugural state of the nation address with my new government. I started to think about the discipline of nations and how it impacts development of nations.

My mind took me to Israel, Iran, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, China, The United States of America, Great Britain and South Africa. All these nations had one thing in common; they were nations built under discipline (never mind what some of their leaders represented to the world). I remembered how Israel moved from being a rag tag bunch of oppressed Jews, whose immediate community turned hostile; oppressed from the world abroad and at home. Once must hear stories like the massacres of the ancient Jewish community at Hebron by their own neighbors with whom they had lived for centuries and the other stories to understand what it meant to be a Jew in a hostile world, home and abroad.

The Jews however, like the proverbial Phoenix had arisen from the ashes of ancient history and now lived on top of our world, a world where any of the enemies of Israel will not dare lurch at them with impunity. How did they get here? one doesn’t have to look far but only understand they way they have run that nation. The young and old each have accepted the reality that they are at war all the time. Young and old, male and female are all trained soldiers and have had a go at national service and protection of their nation. They run a strict regime of discipline for their people at a community level and will not accept indiscipline among them selves.

The Iranian Revolution also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution, led by the Ayatollahs; they led demonstrations against the Shah whose regime was perceived by many citizens as an oppressive, brutal and corrupt regime. Iran also suffered from some basic functional failures that brought economic bottlenecks, shortages, and inflation. Iran had been rife with corruption before the revolutionaries; a paralyzing kind of corruption where the national services are almost brought on their knees. The formula of these revolutionaries was simple; use religion to bring the nation back to discipline using a theocratic-republican approach.

The Ayatollah team believed that theocratic rule was ultimately more necessary even than prayer and fasting in Islam, as it would eventually eliminate poverty, injustice, and the "plundering" of the nation. Iran GDP/Capita grew from around US$390 in 1979 to over US$5,415.21 per 2017 figures; before then growth of GDP/Capita was flat, and after them it has a clear respectable trend upward. Today no one can dare touch Iran unless you have a death wish. Even by all their enemies they are much respected. They hold their own when it comes to science, independent thought and have made much progress as a nation too.

A lot has been said about Adolf Hitler of Germany, but mostly the gory and negative aspects. But one must wonder how one man got a nation in the heart of Europe to grow so strong so as to terrorize the whole world and sustain to date a national paradigm of achievement orientation and development. It had to take an alliance of nations to bring Germany onto its knees. Hitler understood the importance of mentoring a nation into a paradigm and never underestimated the power of influencing the children. German schools under him spent more time embedding ideas of nationalism and militarism into the children. He also believed that the most effective way to control your nation is controlling mass media. The Nazis took control over culture as well. They banned over 20,000 books during the ‘burning of the books’ to promote German values. “All ‘degenerate’ art was destroyed.

Despite being unethical, Hitler changed the perspective on a whole race. The Nazis leadership philosophy was defined by the "Führerprinzip" German for "leader principle". The ideology of the Führerprinzip sees each organization as a hierarchy of leaders, where every leader has absolute responsibility in his own area, demands absolute obedience from those below him and answers only to his superiors. The supreme leader answered to God and the people. The Führerprinzip paralleled the functionality of military organizations, which continue to use a similar authority structure today. What is clear is that despite the way in which Hitler took advantage of and abused this ideology, he was able to garner a nation around himself, achieve immense gains and build a national paradigm that still exists in present day Germany.

The stories of Singapore, South Korea and China have been told; One must only read the autobiography of Lee Kwan Yew (From Third world to First) to understand that turning around Singapore was a matter of immense national discipline. The leaders were held to account for the principles that they claimed to stand for; Lee Kwan Yew was not an exception to this expectation. He led the way by living a life of immense discipline and accountability. He held himself to a very high standard of living beyond reproach. Not even his very own friends in this "white revolution" were spared the brutal expectation. The nation was also put under similar stead. It took time but soon Singapore was more than just a city state with no resources to talk about; they were leading the world in terms of Economic growth, and that so leveraging their people as their resource. And it worked! Singapore GDP/Capita grew to $64,581.95 in 2018 from $428.06 in 1960, a growth of over 150 times over a 58-year period. What is clear Singapore inspired many of the nations around her, including communist China; one can argue that China owes her current economic growth to Lew Kwan Yews work. But that work too was founded on a foundation of strict discipline, both personal and national.

The United States story has been told countless times. The founding fathers were men of societal stature and incredible personal discipline, that demanded the same of the nation. The group came from a variety of social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds as well as occupations, some with no prior political experience. They believed in the following seven principles that underlie the U.S Constitution:

1) popular sovereignty meaning rule by the people

2) limited government meaning everyone is bound by the US Constitution

3) separation of powers into branches that make, enforce or interpret laws,

4) checks and balances meaning controls (checks) can be made on the other branches

5) judicial review,

6) federalism meaning power is shared between the national and state governments

7) republicanism meaning the right to vote for representatives

Its no wonder that the U.S is referred to as the land of opportunity. It still comes down to discipline of the nation in order to align to the above seven principles.

China's story has not been told much. The Chinese communist party, with more than 74 million members, up from 50 million in the early 1990s, is the largest political party in the world. Between 30% and 50% apply to join the party and recruiters seek those with top grades, leadership potential and youthful idealism.

However, where does all this governance model originate from? In his book "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" Max Weber makes an argument that this begun with reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin teaching their congregations that whatever we do outside of the four walls of the houses of worship was a vocation. Switzerland was changed from being called the sewer of Europe into one of the best places to live in Europe. He argues that the Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated emergence of modern-day European ethic.

The Protestant reformation, according to Weber effectively forbade wastefully using hard earned money and frowned on donation of money to the poor or to charity as it was furthering beggary. This social condition was perceived as laziness, burdening their fellow man, and an affront to God; by not working, one failed to glorify God. Instead the protestant ethic encouraged reinvestment of this money which in turn led to increased wealth.

What is clear is that every great nation had immense discipline at a national level underlying its growth into greatness and success. Uganda would be no different and we would rise to write our own script.

The motorcade was now racing through the traffic that had all pulled to the side to let it pass. It was moving so fast at breakneck speed. The sirens were growing louder and louder to an almost deafening din! "Paul, Paul..." someone was shaking me veraciously. A cacophony of sirens and my name being called all mixed into one sound. The shaking felt like a tremor! "Paul!" I woke up, opened my eyes, and it was my wife Susan sited by my side, in our bed, at home! "You have been delirious all night; speaking in your sleep severally; I failed to sleep as you seemed to be having a really engaging dream". "What time is it?" I asked Susan. "it is 3 a.m; and I need to catch some sleep before the busy day tomorrow. Good night again. Lets catch some real sleep now before day break, OK". 

"What a dream!" I told myself under my breath; "What a dream!".