Did you know Uganda has a Witchcraft Act? It was enacted in the
colonial days by colonialists and has never been amended to address
modern day witchcraft, though it is actively used by the country’s
modernising agency — the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) — which
overseas
operations of broadcasters, mobile telephony providers, social media and the Internet.
operations of broadcasters, mobile telephony providers, social media and the Internet.
Currently, the UCC is cracking
down on radio stations in Kampala using the Witchcraft Act. This is not
bad in itself since the stations have become a platform for conmen to
advertise their witchcraft trade to fleece a gullible public looking for
miracles.
It is a tired game. Like those scam e-mails
and text messages that say you have won a lottery which you never
participated in, but yet some naive people proceed to try to claim the
prize and end up getting fleeced.
Same with the radio
so-called witchdoctors who actually pass themselves off as pastors. They
take to the air and line up several callers who phone in to thank them
for their great charms that secured them a fantastic business deal, a
visa, a job or a dream lover. They give their phone numbers after every
few sentences to lure more victims.
But because the
Witchcraft Act has not been updated, the UCC does not go after these
smart bible-carrying “Christian” witchdoctors. They fulfill the biblical
prophesy of false prophets.
These bible-carrying
witchdoctors sell their so-called miracles more blatantly everyday,
contrary to the teachings of Jesus, whom they purport to serve.
In
fact, no less a personality than retired Anglican Bishop Zack Niringiye
took to the air last month to denounce the miracle mongering, saying
that Ugandans have “elevated simple outcomes of hard work like buying a
car or getting a promotion, to miracles, which they seek from pastors.”
The
police have in the past arrested conmen posing as miracle workers and
even exposed the tricks they use, some of them using technology such as
cordless electric shock devices.
When a “pastor”
triggers it from his pocket and hits a believer a couple of metres off
with an electric shock, the victim believes it is the Holy Spirit around
the preacherman who has hit the devil possessing them. Such a person
will not hesitate to empty their account or even take a loan to “plant” a
big financial “seed” in the pastor’s church so that all the “evil”
spirits in them can be cast out.
There is a not-so-new
tendency by Ugandans, including law enforcers, to fear witchcraft both
by traditional witchdoctors and modern bible-carrying ones. So these
conmen continue breaking the law with impunity, like the environment
laws against noise pollution.
Many Kampala residents
have cried out to the authorities to save them from the deafening noise
from thousands of watts amplifiers that make-shift “churches” blast in
quiet residential areas all days all times disturbing the peace and
quiet of other hard working citizens.
Very few have
got redress, as the authorities are also terrified of the “pastors,”
thanks to their superstitious background. The authorities are afraid of
antagonising some unknown power that the conmen purport to represent.
No comments :
Post a Comment