On King David, Solomon and Museveni
Gawaya Tegulle
Flipping through the life of King David the son of Jesse, I realised his biography could well have been that of a certain Yoweri Museveni the son of Kaguta. Let’s begin with their childhood– David looking after sheep in the pastures of Bethlehem; Museveni looking after cows in the pastures of Ankole.Only God (and maybe Prophet Samuel) knew of David’s leadership abilities at first; full recognition came after his unlikely victory over Goliath. Same with Museveni; he had more security guards than supporters at his presidential campaigns in 1980. People only took him seriously when he defeated a bigger and better-equipped army in 1986. Both began fighting as young men and waged civil war, resisting bad leadership; David fighting Saul and Museveni fighting Amin in 1971.Like David who never really stopped fighting through his reign, Museveni has always been at war in and out of the country. David had a problem uniting a divided Israel- Hebron and Jerusalem only came together after seven years; Museveni is still struggling uniting the north to the rest of the country. Both are not peacetime leaders; but fellows that experienced tough times and God used the stamina developed during years on the battlefield to steer the nation through turbulence.Just like David, Museveni has been a tool in God’s hand, instrumental in turning around the nation from decline and setting the stage for a period of enlightenment and growth. Problem is, from this point, David and Museveni stray light years away from each other.In 1 Chronicles 22, we see that David, aware that his time was up (when he exceeded 60 years of age like somebody we know), began setting the stage for someone else to take over. In contrast, Museveni is preparing to stay on and on.And David did something Museveni cannot- he started preparation for the biggest project of the day (building the Temple), well aware he would never enjoy it, and began mobilising his leaders to welcome and support the new King (Solomon). The ministry of David shows God’s perfect will is that soldiers should only liberate, not rule.They should set the stage, but never be actors; lay the foundation, but not finish the house to live in it. As great leaders, they look beyond the immediate and plan for the generations of tomorrow. They are happy to set up things they will never enjoy– buy presidential jets they’ve no plans to fly in and build state houses they won’t reside in.Liberators never say that without them their countries cannot survive – David simply built strong institutions that Solomon would use to govern Israel. Liberators are aware that real prosperity cannot be during their time, but in future, under peacetime leaders. So they don’t indulge in panic investment and land bonanzas. Peace and prosperity come during the reign of peacetime leaders– not liberators. That’s why in Solomon’s time there was so much gold in Israel that silver was useless– not even toilets were decorated with silver. Most of President Museveni’s fundamental mistakes stem from inability to recognise his true place in history – that of a liberator rather than a ruler. So he’s literally killing himself trying to do everything possible to get Uganda to prosperity. On one hand he’s shipping in ‘investors’, half of whom are just embarrassing him consistently, and now he’s harassing the media and opposition, accusing them of derailing his development programmes.You see, Davids always mess the country up trying to be Solomons. Only one thing you hope shouldn’t be similar about the two men: David reigned over Israel 40 years. Tel: 256-782-285999
