I am not a Muganda by tribe but a Munyarwanda who has stayed in Buganda for a very long time. The culture of these people has thousands of lessons if you are attentive enough. They are good people with various weaknesses and the major one being food and materialism. But that will be for another day.
The Baganda people’s strength lies in their level of organization. These people have had a very composed and organized culture for ages. The secret of this orderliness, however, lies in their monarchical order and discipline. The Baganda do not just believe in their king (the Kabaka) but they worship him. In fact, the King of Baganda is the chief high priest of the major ancestral religion (ebyobuwangwa).
The King of Buganda is no ordinary human being but a super-human, only next to God. It is through the King that the gods and ancestors bless or condemn the Baganda. He is epitome of all the happiness and joy to a typical Muganda. For political stability and politics in Uganda, you cannot govern the Baganda without the Kabaka in place. Since the missionaries and colonialists came to Uganda, and throughout all regimes, it is a fact that to maintain peace with the Baganda, you must ensure the stability of their kingdom cult.
The Baganda will die and kill for their king and kingdom. It is not merely part of them but who they are. It is the foundational explanation of their identity. There is no Buganda Kingdom without the King enthroned, and neither do they appreciate a king without power and authority. What marks their King and distinguishes him from all other authorities is him being superior to all other kings.
In fact, the Baganda believe that the only authority over the Kabaka is God, the rest are just subjects. To the Baganda, whether you are the president of the nation, whether you are the president of the USA, or any super power, the King of Buganda is superior and you are inferior, period.
The Baganda are also the best propagandists I have ever met. A typical Muganda will convince you to believe a lie, will make you buy what you don’t want, and he will set the agenda over an existing one. No wonder it is the Baganda who dominate the informal business sector in Uganda. They are the majority of the pastors, and they dominate the transport industry. All these are ventures that thrive on verbal abilities. They have proved to be the best at using their mouth. The Baganda are masters at using their language to influence the course of events.
Among the many words, terminologies, and names that the Baganda use to praise their kingdom and king, and what has impressed me most as a Christian Theologian is the one that says: SSABASAJJA ASIIMYE. Honestly, am not sure if I can give the best translation of this term. But the Ssabasajja Asiimye translation is only possible if one understands first, who the Kabaka is to the Baganda.
Like I mentioned above, the Kabaka of Buganda, to the Baganda, is the highest power and authority on earth. He is not subject to any law or any other power except God’s. Ssabasajja Asiimye, therefore, is the Kabaka’s Prerogative Will. The Kabaka’s WILL is a law to the Baganda.
Historically, in their indigenous setting, it was an honor for the Kabaka to admire your wife and take her from you, and once he did, the right thing for you to do was to praise and thank him for having similar tastes to yours. The community praised you for being a former husband to the new wife of the Kabaka.
The Kabaka does not ask for anything, everything is his, just as everyone is his. The Kabaka is the switch that turns on life and switches it off at Will. The Kabaka can kusiima (will) and you are killed or he can Will and you are saved, regardless of what the courts of law (in Buganda) have said. If the Kabaka wakes up one morning in good moods, he can make you rich. Just by his word, he can give you anything he wills as long as it is in his kingdom. Many current rich Baganda families were either kinsmen to the Kabaka or were individuals who benefited from the SSABASAJJA ASIIMYE concept.
Ssabasajja Asiimye is the ultimate will of the supreme leader, the Kabaka. Ssabasajja Asiimye is not something that the King does because he can, or because he is in power like a political president. Rather, Ssabasajja Asiimye are things he does because of who he is. He is the king and things are as he wants them to be.
This term, Ssabasajja Asiimye, has its equivalent in the Bible. The Bible says in Romans 1:17 that: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. The Greek word that is translated as ‘Righteousness’ is ‘Dikaiosune’ and Dikaiosune is the equivalent of the Kabaka Asiimye saying.
It is important for whoever reads New Testament Greek, especially that written by Apostle Paul, to understand that Paul always used words intentionally. And he always entertained a connotative vocabulary in line with the sociology in which he preached within. The Greeks understood the term ‘Dikaiosune’ from its root ‘Dike’. Dike, in the ancient Greek world was essentially the substantial nature of something. Greeks argued that behavior or action was due to Dike (nature). Dikaiosune, in Greek philosophy, does not speak of how things should be or act. The word is not used for its moral implications but rather for who or what something is, substantially.
In the religious Greco-Roman world, Greeks had a mythological goddess of Justice and her name was Dike. This Greek goddess was equated with the Roman goddess Justitia. These gods were not worshipped for what they did but essentially for who they were and whatever they did was due to who they were.
In the Old Testament, there are four main words which are related to Ssabasajja Asiimye. These are: “sedaqah”, “sedeq”, “sadaq” and “saddiq”. These words have the same root meaning. However in the Hebrew grammatical order, they differ in their semantic range depending on the context. The conceptual meaning of these Hebrew words is that Yahweh is ‘SOVEREIGN’, not because of what he does but even what he does is subject to who he is.
The point am trying to make here is that when the Baganda say SSABASAJJA ASIIMYE (the king has ordained/willed), the emphasis is not on what the king has ordained but rather on the king himself. It is not any other official, power or authority but the king himself that has ordained and therefore no other power can contend.
There is a debate about the manner in which we are saved. Some, like Judaism, argue that we are saved by what we do, and we will be judged to qualify for heaven by our works. Others argue that we are saved by Grace but, after Salvation, we must behave in order to preserve this Salvation to the end. And they call this preservative procedure: ‘Sanctification’. And then there are those of us who emphasize that we are saved by Grace through Faith alone, not by any works/deeds before or after.
The reason we insist on Salvation by Grace through Faith alone is due to the true teaching of the Bible. The Bible says in Romans 3:25-25 that: God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice (Dikaiosune), because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-he did it to demonstrate his justice (Dikaiosune) at the present time, so as to be just (Dike) and the one who justifies (makes Dike) those who have faith in Jesus.
Friends, I want you to read this text again and learn from the Baganda. God is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. His kingdom is the universe because he is the creator of everything. He owns everything and he is the author of eternal life. Now I ask, if the Kabaka of Buganda wills in Buganda and it happens, how can the King of Kings ordain and it fails? We are not saved by what we do but by believing and declaring in our hearts and mind that we belong to this king known as Jesus Christ. God is love and he saves us not because of what he does but because of who he is.
The righteousness by which we are saved is not ours, made out of our performance, but it is his righteousness (Dikaiosune), and it is due to who he is (Dikaiosune) that he DECREES that believers inherit eternal life. It is a decree. Lawyers will tell you that a decree is a command outside and beyond what the law states. Just like Kings make some decisions outside the known procedure, God decrees that we are saved by his Grace and that is all.
Just like a monarchy King looks at an individual who is not of his tribe but loyal to him and declares him to be his man (Musajja wa Kabaka), so does a pure and holy God look at us sinful believing-beings and declares us his saints. When the Kabaka approves something or someone, many kingdom officials might disagree with his choice or decision, but what makes a difference is that he is the king (Dikaiosune) and they are not. This is not a matter of when God says yes, who can say No, but an issue of identity. Who God is.
King David in 2Samuel 9 carried Mephibosheth, the grandson of his enemy Saul, and took him on, crippled and dirty as he was. Even Mephibosheth considered himself to be a dog, but the King sanctioned that he was, from then on, a member of the palace. Don’t you dare challenge the concept of Ssabasajja Asiimye. Just like Mephibosheth was in the palace and some members did not like it, did not like him and did not like his looks, you will stay and they will just be fine..
Ladies and the Gentlemen, the Bible says: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes his has eternal life. Now listen to me, the scripture does not say that whosoever is not a sinner. No, no! It says whosoever, whosoever (good or bad, educated or illiterate, short or tall), whosoever BELIEVES, the King has ordained that they receive eternal life.
It doesn’t matter when you believe, some believe before they have sinned too much and others, like the thief on the cross, believe after they have sinned beyond and on the brink of death. Even then, the King issues an EXECUTIVE ORDER in these words: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
The mistake of thinking that doing right makes us right is the same error the Pharisees made. Religion has always preached that if we clean up our actions, the King who owns heaven will be impressed. God is not like earthly kings that are impressed by performance, for the Bible says in 1Samuel 16:7 that: But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Jesus taught exactly this in Mathew 23:25-26. It’s through a changed believing heart that God is impressed to declare us righteous.
Modern-day Christianity often puts the emphasis on actions instead of issues of the heart. This is reflected in Christians’ excessive efforts to legislate change in people’s actions instead of changing their hearts by the preaching of the Gospel. It’s the Gospel that contains the power of God, not political action groups (Romans 1:16). Laws only affect actions. The Gospel changes hearts. Once hearts are changed, actions change.
Stop running a performance based religion which keeps offertory and tithing receipts. Fasting and prayer does not impress God. God doesn’t care whether you perform miracles in his name, you will still be lost (Mathew 7:21-23), your good works and law keeping don’t matter, God smells and says: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away (Isaiah 64:6).
Friends whatever we do, however good and legal it might be, if the owner of the universe is not impressed, then it is all useless and in vain. Let us not forget that the Bible says: The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. (Psalms 24:1).
Whoever wants to inherit what belongs to God must impress God not any other force. And, as we have seen, he is not impressed by what we do but by who we are. I don’t care whether you keep the Ten Commandments or not, the Bible is clear when it says: Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20)
Paul was clear when he said in Romans 3:21-23 that: But now the righteousness (Dikaiosune) of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness (Dikaiosune) of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; for all have sinned and in nature fallen short of the glory of God.
Ssabasajja Asiimye means that God does not reduce the charges against we the sinful men; He does not change the standard of righteousness and moral demand to us. He remains constant, as the creator of the world, but still he declares whoever believes (his act of love the cross) as righteousness and gives each eternal life rights.
This is what Paul means when he says in 2Corinthians 5:21 that: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness (Dikaiosune) of God. SSABASAJJA ASIIMYE. Period!
God bless you, I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH in Jesus’ name
Am Pr. I.T.WHITE (+256-793-822833)
The Gospel Hawker
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 