Written by Joe Wacha
Believers of religion, particularly Christianity, like to refer to the Bible for almost everything about life. They say that someday, Jesus Christ, the son of God would make a comeback to the world that once not only rejected him but also made wild accusations against him, arrested and tortured him in a most cruel manner that even the hardest criminals today have not tasted before driving huge nails into his limbs on a giant cross where he was left to die.
They say that prior to the anticipated come back, the world would witness strange things, signs, wonders and that some people would even claim to perform miracles.
Lately, there have been strange things too, so strange that there have been reactions from even the unexpected quarters.
For instance, hasn’t it been long since you wrote or received a letter? Yes, those neatly or scribbled hand-written messages on pieces of paper, which unfortunately have been eliminated by the widely and fast spreading electronic mail and telephone text messages.
However, thanks to a military General, David (Tinyefuuza) Sejusa and a former cabinet minister, Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, we could fast be returning to the letter-writing days. Except, their letters are not your typical, simple nostalgic missives. Theirs is a letter to a once close buddy, someone they probably referred to on first-name basis.
Today, newspapers are the only medium available for these old buddies to get in touch, without any guarantee that the intended receiver ever gets to read the letters. Each of the two has written more than once to His Excellency the President, hoping he notices their existence once again, like he did during the years gone by.
Of course, the tone of the letters tells that the bond of the friendship, never mind that the President once said he had no friends, used to be strong. But it also clearly spells out that something has gone wrong, terribly wrong that the once close buddies can no longer access each other and deliver on the Ten Point Program, which we can only hope is what bound them at the beginning.
While debate raged on about the possibility of the military taking over government, the General, as quoted in the Daily Monitor, seemed to be one of the few voices of reason. According to him, if a coup happened, it would be over-shadowed by “a people popular uprising which is legitimate”.
So, are we there yet?
Yes, I think we have arrived and probably made a safe return journey. Why not, after an entire 27 years? But again, who said we would all share the same destination?
Me, I love reading the letters. Other than providing an insight into a ‘darkness at noon’, they also remind me of the years when we anxiously and patiently waited to receive those silly letters, which for some of us were heavily encrypted in code.
But again doesn’t it just prove an old saying that a pen is mighty, when a military general takes to the pen, when they are known to be more comfortable with assembling and firing guns?
These, are indeed strange times. Keep the letters coming, Gen. Sejusa and your partner-in-crime, Jaberi Bidandi Ssali.
