In the unfolding drama around Uganda’s National Coffee Amendment Bill, Pastor Joseph Serwadda has emerged as a rare voice of resistance, unafraid to denounce the shameless government officials attempting to strangle the livelihoods of coffee farmers across the nation. As the head pastor of Victory Christian Center Church, Serwadda is now under fire from the very political parasites who profit at the expense of hardworking Ugandans. Yet, despite high-ranking threats, he has stood firm, refusing to withdraw his fierce prayers calling for justice and divine reckoning on those working to impoverish the nation.
Serwadda’s impassioned prayer that these government vultures be struck down for their sins against Uganda’s coffee sector is perhaps one of the few fearless acts seen in recent times. “Whatever is to eat them should arrive fast and whatever is to destroy them should come in haste,” Serwadda prayed, calling upon divine intervention against these relentless forces of exploitation. Such bold words are rarely heard in a country where church leaders too often bow to the whims of the ruling elite, parroting empty blessings over the same corrupt officials siphoning away Uganda’s future.
The outrage over the rationalisation of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) is well-founded. Coffee, a staple of Uganda’s economy, particularly for regions like Greater Masaka, has historically uplifted countless families from poverty. Pastor Serwadda himself hails from this region, where he says his very education was financed by the coffee that his family cultivated. For him, anyone attempting to dismantle the mechanisms that safeguard Uganda’s coffee production is, in his words, an “enemy of Uganda.”
Despite the outpouring of support for Serwadda’s stance, President Yoweri Museveni recently issued a statement defending the rationalisation of the UCDA. Museveni cynically argues that merging UCDA with the Ministry of Agriculture will “cut down unnecessary expenses and reduce redundancies.” In reality, this is yet another tactic in the ruling party’s playbook to further centralize power, gutting agencies that have served local interests and shifting control to those who hold Uganda’s purse strings.
Museveni had the audacity to call these agencies “parasitic” for allegedly failing to meet NRM’s vision for socio-economic transformation. Yet, for the Ugandan people, it is the government that has proven parasitic, siphoning resources and opportunities while hiding behind the charade of economic reform. The hypocrisy is blatant. The government wants the public to believe that abolishing the UCDA is somehow for the nation’s benefit, when in reality, it’s part of a broader strategy to monopolize and profit from every aspect of Uganda’s agriculture.
Joining the opposition to this brutal amendment is none other than the Katikkiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga, who pointed out that the plan disproportionately impacts the Baganda people, who are responsible for nearly half of Uganda’s coffee exports. He has labelled the proposed elimination of the UCDA a “punishment against Baganda,” a direct hit at the region’s economic backbone.
Pastor Serwadda’s response to his critics is nothing short of heroic. When a government representative had the nerve to demand that he “pray for blessings” instead of judgment upon those advocating for this catastrophic bill, Serwadda retorted with biting honesty, questioning why these thieves would expect blessings from him as they brazenly steal from the people.
Ugandans should stand alongside Serwadda and his fierce call for divine justice. It’s not enough to stay silent when the country’s very heart is being stolen by the handful of elites who feign concern for “reducing expenses” while they pocket the profits from policies that bleed Uganda dry. Pastor Serwadda has laid bare the government’s hypocrisy, exposing their motives and demanding justice, even if it means praying for their downfall. In these dark times, such an uncompromising stance against corruption and tyranny is exactly what Uganda needs.
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