The era of grand national immorality is here and whichever way you look at it, we are cooked.

Picture this: On Eid day, the most circulated picture on social media among Ugandans was an innocent photo of a famous lady, famous because she is mostly known for her moral uprightness and strictness.

But because someone took her photo inside her home, fully dressed but wearing tight pants, the nation went ogling and drooling for days. So next time you come to Kampala and go to the toilet, first check to ensure there are no hidden cameras — that is how deep we have sunk.

Ogling at public figures’ private anatomy aside, what comes from the pulpit is not helping either. We have our bishops going down on all fours worshipping the president of the republic.

No, he did not become their archbishop or a god of sorts, he just happens to have an unknown quantity of 4WD luxury vehicles to give out to senior clerics to help them preach well.

And what is becoming the commonest message that the preachers send out these days as we approach national elections in seven months’ time? They advise us to “eat” politicians’ money and then not vote for them.

Yes, the religious leaders are advising their flock to take bribes from candidates and then as if that were not bad enough, to be dishonest and not give the poor candidate the vote that he has paid for.

As the gospel of giving what someone has paid for to his rival sinks in, is anyone surprised that it is being embraced by girls, especially those in their early twenties?

Isn’t this constant message of stealing from the immoral to please their rivals related to the rampant murders of such girls by aggrieved sugar daddies?

After listening to such messages, a girl collects money from a man and then gives “his thing” to someone else; but the man invariably believes that like votes, pleasure that he has already bought cannot be shared. He kills her and torments her family with messages from her phone.

Can’t the religious organisations issue guidelines to the preachers on what should or should not be preached? If corruption is promoted from pulpit, where can the nation turn for cleansing?

After gleefully sharing embarrassing pictures of an innocent woman and stealing candidates’ money on the advice of our religious leaders, should we as a country continue being surprised that our country appears to be cursed?

Are we surprised that we remain a nation where thieves man the public service; the country that builds a thousand health centres and fails to fix the lighting so that midwives hold phones between their teeth to use the “Nokia Light” to deliver babies?

Our national motto is “For God and My Country!”

Does the said God approve when the men of God advise their flock to steal from contestants instead of standing firmly against bribery? Does the said God nod in approval when a bishop jostles to catch a temporal leader’s eye so as to be given the latest set of shiny wheels on the market?

After being bombarded with corruption-promoting messages from the pulpit, can you blame the girls for “eating” sugar daddies’ money and then sleeping with younger boyfriends?

Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International Fellow for development journalism. E-mail: [email protected]