Last week on Monday, Uganda marked the annual Martyrs Day, an occasion to remember and celebrate the fatal devoutness of early converts who were killed after refusing to denounce their new found faith. The celebrations are customarily held at Namugongo in Kira, Wakiso district, where most of the believers were martyred.
President Yoweri Museveni, a great believer in the Holy Scriptures and the diktats of God, a man during whose reign freedom of worship and faith has grown by leaps and bounds, was in attendance. This growth in religious practice is a sign that President Museveni is blessed in the light of the Martyrs as an enabler of the purpose for which they died-sustaining the Word. Under Amin, religious worship was suppressed, to an extent that a whole Archbishop (Janani Luwum) was equally martyred. This was over a century since the ordeal of the Uganda Martyrs. Who knows how many more would have been killed had Amin stayed any longer?
Whereas Martyrdom is celebrated, how one becomes a Martyr is not much different from murder. The Martyrs were deprived of life at a young age, but the reward for their sacrifice is that their memory keeps today’s believers energized in faith and ready to face adversity for what they believe in.
Most Ugandans appreciate the value of the Uganda Martyrs, which is why millions converge every year to commemorate their day. Some trek for hundreds of miles to the venue as a way to share in the tribulation of the Martyrs. Then there are foreigners coming in! The question is, how many of today’s believers would exhibit similar bravery as Mukajjanga’s victims?
Then on Sunday, June 9, we commemorated another set of courageous Ugandans with a purpose-the NRA heroes. Their cause was nationalist in nature and for that, like the Uganda Martyrs, they gave up their lives and for others, their station in life for what they believed in.
The link between the Uganda Martyrs and NRA heroes is the shedding of blood and active defiance of bad leadership in different centuries. The lesson is that a true citizen should stand for what they believe in even at the price of their life. The young converts the most famous of whom was Charles Lwanga could have chosen to give up their faith and survive death; the same with the NRA heros who could have revealed the whereabouts of their leader, Yoweri Museveni, and survived, on top of receiving material rewards from the Government of the time. But they all considered the higher goals of why they chose the faith and the path of the struggle in the first place, and realised that they were more useful dead than alive, for the sake of posterity and, indeed, they were correct!
This means that when choosing our beliefs and struggles, they must stand the test of time. It’s not a matter of being defiant or offensive. If you choose the wrong ideals, you die and nobody will remember you beyond a small circle.
Jesus Christ was tormented before his crucifixion. The Roman rulers wanted Him to deny being the son of God or a king. He largely ignored them despite the harsh beatings and scolding. Today, He is the most celebrated “human being” to ever live. Had he been a common thief refusing to reform or a killer, he would have gone down in infamy, and wouldn’t have a universal following as he does.
In today’s materialistic world, where Jesus had one traitor, Judas, from among his twelve disciples, likely he would have heard more than half of them betraying him. He wasn’t rich and his teachings required spiritual clarity for one to grasp. His miracles would easily be passed off as witchcraft and the “more than half” disciples would easily get compromised or choose to join more “lucrative” churches, manned by false prophets.
Believers of today, let’s watch out that our faith is not skin deep, but cultivate a very profound faith based on understanding of the scriptures. Let’s dig deeper into why the Uganda Martyrs didn’t flee when they had a chance, why they believed more in promises of the future than the present state where they were doing well as palace pages of the time. These were big officials!
Young people, avoid rushing for get-rich-quick schemes of fraudsters and getting misled to follow groups without a proper cause and vision of the future. It’s unfortunate that some have been misled into acts of criminality in the guise of “fighting for freedom” whereas they are fighting against prevalent freedom. Heros don’t die or suffer for nothing; they die for something and the actions in the process of which they offer their lives are never regrettable.
I call upon young people to read more about the NRA heroes and Uganda Martyrs. Their struggles were divinely inspired and purposed, which is why they resulted in long lasting eras of liberty, Godliness, unity, democracy, progress and prosperity.
By the way, how is it that the Uganda Martyrs died in 1886 and exactly 100 years later, in 1986, NRM/NRA assumed power as liberators in Uganda?
May the memory of our Martyrs and Heroes bless and propel our country into a more secure future!
The author is the Deputy Press Secretary to the President of Uganda
Contact: kirundaf2@gmail.com
0776980486/0783990861
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