Even the most lukewarm Christian in Uganda today cannot fail to notice the repeated use of pigs by protesters who are questioning the monetary benefits Members of Parliament bestow upon themselves.

Biblically, a pig was an unclean animal and is still regarded as unclean by Muslims (who form a considerable portion of Uganda’s population) and Jews (whose old culture Christians follow to a large extent).

Jobless youth protesters, under the name, the Jobless Brotherhood, started taking pigs to parliament in 2014, copying what activists in Kenya had done earlier in the “Mpigs protest.”

The Ugandans have kept doing so at least once a year to denounce MPs’ apparent luxurious lifestyle amid biting poverty and unemployment. But last week, they did something significantly different from previous protests.

While in the past they painted the piglets yellow — the ruling party’s colour — this time they coated the piglets in both yellow and blue, adding the main opposition party on the charge sheet. So they can’t be accused of partisanship.

The protesting youth are adding drama to a city awash with preachers, where radio and TV daily allocate considerable (paid) airtime to Bible preachers.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell the story of Jesus casting out demons from a possessed man. When Jesus approached the crazed guy, his demons pleaded not to be cast into fire but to be put into a heard of swine nearby.

Inexplicably, Jesus granted the demons’ wish and sent them into the swine, which in turn ran down to the sea where they drowned. Interestingly, the pig owners did not claim compensation, or bailout in today’s parlance, for their lost investment but instead begged Jesus to leave their town, rather than repenting their sins.

The brightly coloured piglets that visit Uganda’s parliament every year do not end up drowned in Lake Victoria. They are instead taken into police custody. This could be because they have not picked up the demons that the youth take them there to collect.

The demons of irrationality afflicting Ugandans are easily the most enduring legacy of the dictatorships that possessed the country for two decades from 1966. It is not the damaged infrastructure because that is being repaired. It is not the inflation as it has been tamed.

It is not physical insecurity as that has been largely contained.  It is the absence of shame for wrongdoing, the inability to distinguish right from wrong and the blatant defence of criminality, all emanating from a mindset damaged by dictatorship.

Only last week, power utility company Umeme was traversing the country to deal with electricity thieves who did not even try to run away but actually defended their crime.

In Mbale, the town at the foot of Mount Elgon, the men who illegally tap the distribution lines, said they have to steal it because it is too priced. In Makindye division of Kampala City, several young women were shown by NTV insulting Umeme officials and vowing to continue stealing the electricity. Before 1966 it was impossible for a criminal to stare in the camera and declare their intent of continuing to steal.

At the higher levels of society, we are seeing what retired premier Prof Apollo Nsibambi called the “Tyranny of the Legislature.”

There is a feeling that parliament is demanding excessive privileges, a feeling also repeatedly voiced by the executive. And last week, parliament expectedly did what politicians do best — blaming the media; but it also decided to amend existing media laws to whip journalists into line. Never mind that the government spokesman, the secretary to the Treasury and the president have all openly criticised MPs’ financial demands.

The frustration of the MPs is understandable, considering the press coverage of their recent activities. Many of them have just returned from the US, where they went to attend the annual convention of the Ugandan diaspora club for North America, leaving parliament business paralysed. Photos of legislators splurging on shopping sprees reached Kampala — posted by the MPs themselves.

It is claimed over 70 MPs made the luxury trip though the House says it was “only” 25. They all flew business class, while Stephen Kiprotich had flown for two days to Brazil as Olympic Marathon defending champion cramped in economy, but was still expected to win by a predominantly Christian nation that believes in miracles.

Kiprotich lost and we moved on. But the demons of financial irrationality have refused to enter the piglets that make the annual pilgrimage to parliament.

The executive’s frustration with parliament’s financial priorities stems from the laws that empower MPs to determine their emoluments. Ironically, the laws can only be amended by the MPs and it would take a miracle believer to expect that to happen.

The Uganda Revenue Authority is so frustrated it has declared its intention to break the law and tax MPs’ car allowances, which are about to be paid to them in cash — Ush200 million ($60,000), each member to spend as they wish without further accountability. If URA succeeds in breaking the law and taxes the money, it will bag $18,000 from each MP totalling to some $7 million for the over 400 MPs.

That $7 million is a one-off to be collected or lost by URA every five years. But every year, URA loses some $11 million in uncollectable income tax from MPs untaxed allowances, because they are protected by law from such taxation.

And sometime next year, when everybody’s guard is down, the jobless youth will return to parliament with their painted piglets. The youth will be detained for a couple of days and the piglets will be taken to some government facility, never to be seen again. And so the fate of swine in Uganda is sealed.

There is no chance for these four legged mammals to regain respect in Uganda. The last nail in their coffin was hammered by President Yoweri Museveni himself when he equated past leaders to swine.

Though most MPs today are aged 45 and below and did not hear the stories of the 1981-86 bush war when they were still fresh, they act as if they were still there. In the bush, whenever NRA guerrillas “charged” enemy post and collected booty, they declared it all and the commanders would pick the best in terms of clothes and food items saying, “Hii ni size ya kamanda” (this suits the commander) leaving crumbs for the foot soldiers.  In the war against poverty as Uganda marches towards middle-income status by 2021, the MPs are the new commanders.

Meanwhile pigs continue to be Kampala’s favourite delicacy, as pork is the most enjoyed out-of-home dish. Very few Kampalans will take meat from the despised animal to their home as most women confess not knowing how to prepare it.

So men hang out for hours eating pork, undermining the harmony and stability in their homes. Doctors have even threatened that consumption of pork can lead to epilepsy. But Ugandans continue to eat the animal they despise.