Monday, October 28, 2002
Blessed Okello & Jirwa
and the 'Lord's Tyranny'
By JOACHIM BUWEMBO
On Sunday, October 20, the Catholic churches were buzzing with the news the beatification of two young Acholi men, Daudi Okello, 16, and Jildo Irwa, 18, at St Peter's Basilica in Rome by Pope John Paul II.
This should have been the biggest news out of Acholi, the region comprising the three districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader in northern Uganda. But to a young army officer who had been serving in insurgency-torn Gulu and whom I met last Sunday � he is a Catholic, by the way � a more important non-political event was the publication of my little book, How to be a Ugandan, which he wanted autographed.
To many other Christians in Uganda, the important non-political event of last week was Villa's sixth straight victory in Uganda's two annual soccer leagues.
I visited several gathering places and watering holes in Kampala city that weekend and I didn't find any excitement about the two young Ugandans who are set to join the ranks of saints. Younger Kampalans who were more recently confirmed or baptised are even less interested.
As for the Acholi, they should have spent that weekend in massive festivities over the beatification and impending canonisation of two of their own. But that was not the way it turned out. Although 200 or so (spiritually?) empowered Acholi flew to Rome to attend the beatification and possibly more important, take souvenir photos in the pontiff's presence, the event passed largely unnoticed in Acholi. When you are constantly faced with possible death, the glorification of two boys who died nearly 100 years ago is not very urgent.
The irony is that Blessed Daudi Okello and Blessed Jildo Irwa died because they were spreading the Ten Commandments. Today, hundreds of Acholi are dying at the hands of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army that claims to be struggling to establish the rule of the same Ten Commandments. These people must be talking about a different set of Ten Commandments, though, from the ones that soon-to-be saints Okello and Jildo tried to spread.
Isn't "Though shall not kill!" one of the Commandments? How can Kony claim to be fighting to impose the Ten Commandments when in doing so he is breaking one of them again and again?
Let us recall the Ten Commandments which were handed to Moses. The wording may vary between denominations, but the ideas remain the same. The first commands followers to worship only one God. The multiplicity of rituals practised by the LRA cannot be for or about the one God who gave the commandments to Moses.
Then there is the worship of idols, which is forbidden. The LRA has many idols, which include Kony himself.
God also commanded that his name not be misused. The LRA has excelled in misusing God's name. Then He commands that one day out of the week be observed and kept as holy. If only LRA did not kill on the Lord's day, one seventh of their victims would be alive today.
The Lord also commanded that parents should be respected. Well, Kony's own parents are living in hiding from him. His followers have killed many of their own parents. That is not a manifestation of respect.
Thou shall not kill. Murder is the main activity of the LRA. They kill in many sadistic ways, including infecting their victims with Aids through rape.
Thou shall not commit adultery. No woman that the LRA comes across is spared. Moreover, her consent is not sought.
Thou shall not steal. Kony's men steal violently on a daily basis.
Thou shall not accuse anyone falsely. LRA wrongly accuse people, charge them, sentence them and execute them.
Thou shall not covet another man's wife or his property. The LRA do this and proceed to forcibly appropriate whatever they want.
If the blessed martyrs Okello and Jildo were to return today and travel to Acholi via Kampala, what would their reaction be? Seeing all those people who speak the same language as they did, unable to worship because of LRA's illegal tyranny, would most certainly break their hearts.
Let us pray that the day the two are finally declared saints, all the people of Acholi will be in a position to celebrate with the rest of Ugandans.
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