Is it for lack of a Janani Luwum in our day or we miss something?

There is an insightful dialogue recorded in the Bible between John the Baptist’s disciples and Jesus.

Perhaps disturbed by the manner in which Jesus ran His ministry, removed from the established codes of conducted, John the Baptist’s followers approached him questioning why, unlike very one else, His disciples never fasted.

Possibly, they had inquisitively observed Jesus’ disciples over time, enjoying heavy breakfasts with unleavened bread, smoked fish every lunch and may be supper, plus corn in between the meals among other delicacies, till one day they gathered the guts and sought audience with their master.

Their question exposes a larger concern that often ensnares many. We rarely warm up to a switch from the status quo. We longingly look back to the way things were in the process missing what is unfolding before us.

This I have particularly observed whenever we celebrate the legacy of the late Janani Luwum. His life especially the approach to various issues that affected Uganda at the time, is usually juxtaposed with today’s ministers.

The reviews are always unflattering to the present clergymen. The main point usually highlighted is that today’s men of the cloth don’t approach issues the same way the slain archbishop used to. But what if there’s a change in tactic today authored by their master above yet we remain stuck with the way things were handled in the 70s!

Desiring that every minister of God approach issues the Janani Luwum way, at the very least we could be blinded to the new path today and at worst we may contemptuously trample over it because it does not align with our logic.

For example, what is your perception of a man, who before hundreds, warned the country of a looming terrorist attack in 2010 the very first in Uganda but no preemptive action was taken, the attack was executed and approximately 70 people lost their lives?

About two decades later, in 2018 Prophet Elvis Mbonye sternly warned about the gloomy episode that would begin to unfold in 2020. This is when the governments of this world colluded to unleash a two- year long reign of terror upon their citizens unlike any other in human history under the guise of fighting a health emergency.

When the prophecy begun to unfold, it was published and shared widely in an effort to appeal to the authorities to correctly align the nation’s course of action to save lives.

It was never heeded. Through an “Open Letter” he appealed to all politicians to desist from taking the broad way that many nations were taking for it only led to destruction. No appropriate action was taken, and to this day no one knows the far-reaching impact of the country’s catastrophic response to the pandemic.

From the sick that couldn’t access healthcare services, the hand-to-mouth earners that died of starvation, the businesses that closed shop crashing people’s livelihoods, the children whose academics were rudely interrupted, the scourge of child marriages that skyrocketed, the mental health cases, the national debt accumulated over the time period, it is a mountain of losses we are grappling with.

While the authorities predictably ignored the cautionary prophetic warnings, there was no public outcry as to why they failed to heed the warning to such a detrimental end. Had these two particular warnings been heeded perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of lives could have been saved.

What if this very man warns about an imminent famine, advises the government to plant maize as a precaution but his message is instantly contradicted by an expert imploring farmers to plant cotton reasoning that there’s a booming market in the middle east but a couple of months on the famine bites and millions starve to death.

Shall this cause a social media riot castigating the authorities for having ignored the warnings?

I bet not. But we shall wait for another February 16, go through the annual ritual of questioning where the Janani Luwums of today are. But is it really for a lack of a Janani Luwum in our day?

Could be we have a far much more than Janani Luwum in our midst.