Prime
Barabbas, Iscariot, Jesus and Pilate; then Museveni, NRM and Supreme Court
Author, Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- It was Jewish tradition for the prerogative of mercy to be exercised in honour of the Passover festival; so Pilate asked the Jews whether he should release Jesus (who had committed no sin) or Barabbas, whose record spoke for itself. There were two problems with this scenario.
Nobody in their right mind ever attempted to christen their baby Judas or Iscariot, or, God forbid, Judas Iscariot - the man who walked with Jesus, managed his finances and then, for a paltry 30 pieces of silver, sold his conscience and betrayed his Lord. It’s unforgivable to betray a friend; but it adds extreme insult to injury when all that is needed to sway your loyalty – if it ever was there anyway – is a few pieces of silver. It shows how little value you attached to your friend.
Not even atheists like my friend, celebrated Sunday Monitor columnist Allan Tacca or a witchdoctor for that matter, would consider the name Judas Iscariot, even when high on something.
The other name you most certainly haven’t heard anyone christen their baby is Barabbas. He was anything but a model citizen: never absent from the scene of crime, and his list of accomplishments included murder, robbery, rape and just about anything you can think of. He had actually given up on life and was waiting for his crucifixion – the most shameful way that a person deemed an undesirable element in society was supposed to die in those days.
And try as I might, I still haven’t managed to find anyone calling their boy Pilate – the fifth governor of the Roman Province of Judaea who presided over the trial of Jesus, and was not man enough when push came to shove.
It was Jewish tradition for the prerogative of mercy to be exercised in honour of the Passover festival; so Pilate asked the Jews whether he should release Jesus (who had committed no sin) or Barabbas, whose record spoke for itself. There were two problems with this scenario. First, is that Pilate knew only too well that Jesus was innocent and for good measure, his wife (thank God for real wives!) had warned him that he should have nothing to do with condemning an innocent man to death. So there was no point asking the crowd who should be released. The second problem was with the people; to choose a notorious criminal over a righteous man who had done them nothing but good, was simply bamboozling.
But the truth is that just because there is no Christian we know of christened Judas Iscariot doesn’t mean there is no one who behaves like a properly groomed Judas Iscariot. And the keen eye will by now have discerned a Barabbas and a Pilate just around the corner.
There is no doubt that Uganda has generally lost direction and is now going round and round in endless circular motions without shifting forward. The person and party responsible – the President and the ruling party – are known only too well. But after throwing money to an impoverished population, especially in the rural areas, they picked up votes at a canter. For a few shillings - transactions Judas Iscariot himself would have been proud of - villagers in many areas betrayed Uganda by voting NRM. The future of the country didn’t seem as important as the few thousand shillings (picked from the national coffers by the way) that the people were bribed with.
And the way that good men and women, with a vision for the country, were roundly rejected in most places, in favour of people openly known to be guilty of betraying Uganda through corruption and collusion with the criminal enterprise that runs the country is baffling. But even in the depth of hell’s flames, Barabbas must have smiled in recollection at the referendum that ensured his freedom, 2000 years ago.
I doubt heaven found room for Pontius Pilate when he died; so it is during coffee break in hell that Pilate might have learnt of the aborted presidential election petition…and smiled in proud recollection. The Supreme Court knew the truth only too well (that never in our history have we had an election that really must be overturned as the one of January 14).
But the court looked around (at least the weightier ones among them did) for every excuse in, outside and in the neighbourhood of the rules to ensure that the case went nowhere. Oh, and Happy Easter, folks!
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda [email protected]
