This post was first published in The Uganda Times (a now-defunct online newspaper) on 3 January 2021. Coincidentally, 2021, like 2026, was also an election year, which makes the context of the post align with today’s atmosphere.
Happy New Year, 2021! Thank you. (I know you just said, ‘Happy New Year too!’). How is it? How is the New Year treating you, or how are you treating it? A friend of mine, Emma, told me the direction of one’s feet determines one’s destiny—so, the year does not treat you, you treat it instead. For me, this year is awesome; I pretty much have this feeling of a breakthrough. I have faith it will be. I wish you the same.
Today is January 3 2021. It is the first Sunday of the year, but also the last day of last week, which included part of the now-ended year, 2020. Now, I know that we have to respect the Sabbath (Sunday for this post’s sake) and take a rest, but please accept what I’m just about to say to you. Don’t rest this Sunday, get down to work. Look, if you hadn’t planned out this year already, you’re late, and you cannot afford to lose more time. It’s the 3rd day of the year, and tomorrow you will begin the first full week of the year. So, as soon as you finish reading this, just get a pen and a piece of paper and jot down your plans, resolutions, visions, and aspirations for the year and work out a plan to achieve them and consecrate the plan to the Lord. Only then can you fully begin the day tomorrow and the New Year at large.
See, this year began on Friday, which was part of last year’s last week. You don’t want to associate with last year, do you? You don’t want anything from the past to drag you behind. So, this is my formula for such years that begin in the last week of the previous year. I don’t walk into the New Year; I hop into the New Year. That way, I don’t have a part of me that enters the New Year before another; no, I enter the New Year in one single hop. That is why you can’t begin planning for the New Year in the last week of last year. That would be suicidal! So, what are you waiting for?
As we enter this year, we need to remember to pray for our country, our dear Uganda. The Uganda that was called the Pearl of Africa, and not the one now called the Matooke Republic. Our Uganda is neither ugly nor hideous, neither detestable nor unlikable, neither cursed nor wasted. Our Uganda is just like Kagayi Ngobi has called it, “a badly taken selfie!” It is beautiful but maimed, immaculate but stained, bountiful but robbed! Poor Uganda, how she has suffered! All we need to do is nurse the wounds, cleanse the stains off our clothes and take a fine bath. Then, we could get a better phone with a better camera, hold it firmly so it shouldn’t shake, smile for the camera, look at the picture and admire the Pearl of Africa! That’s the Uganda we belong to. That’s our Uganda.
As I thought about the perfect prayer Uganda needs, especially during this uncertain time of civic action and the 14th of January closing in (the election day), I got my answer in the only remaining national symbol that hasn’t been tainted: the National Anthem! God bless the soul of the late composer, Prof George Wilberforce Kakoma! Why not the Uganda anthem if the seals of the Uganda courts of judicature have lately lost their authentication, the public seal lately made private, the Uganda flag lately lowered (and apparently a dangerous weapon now), the Uganda coat of arms, which bears the Uganda motto lately loosened and tweaked, and the Uganda Constitution lately raped? Do tell me why not?
‘Oh Uganda, Land of Beauty’ is the song we should all hymn in prayer, and maybe then, sanity could be restored. It will be restored indeed for the Lord is indeed God, and he will answer the prayers of his faithful children. ‘Oh, Uganda! May God uphold thee / We lay our future in thy hand / United free: For liberty / Together we’ll always stand,’ reads the first verse of the song. From the onset, it is clear that before anything else, God is first! Uganda prays and surrenders to God to uphold thee. She leaves the future to the security of God, for then will her people be united and free, and if anyone tampers with this, they will, for their liberty, stand in solidarity and by the fortification of the Lord. Mortal man cannot, therefore, secure a future, not in his hands, for Uganda was consecrated to the Lord.
The second verse talks of the land of freedom and bounty, where our land and labour are not in vain and where, in peace and friendship, we live. Is that the Uganda we live in, or is it the Uganda we should pray for?
The third and last verse talks of the land of plenty of food and green, for which the much-envied description, ‘Pearl of Africa’, has cemented our pride. Again, is that the Uganda we live in or is it the Uganda we should pray for? Certainly, it is the Uganda we once had, the Uganda we deserve and the Uganda we wish for.
As I wish you all a happy new year, I also pray for my country, Uganda, to be Uganda. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
So, that was me, let me hear from you too…