By Andrew Arinaitwe
On Friday, September 15, Kampala witnessed a showdown between two female singers — Sheebah Karungi and Cindy Sanyu. However, after delivering entertainment, and lots of post-concert chatter online, their performances have stirred controversy among legislators.
The lawmakers are now vehemently criticising the singers for what they labelled public displays of nudity during the show and are urging government entities to address what they perceive as a concerning decline in moral values.
“The promotion of nudity is totally unAfrican. You would have to be crazy to promote nudity as if it’s a way of life,” Bufumbira County East MP Nsaba Buturo said.
“Today we see young ladies dressing themselves half naked, the breasts are outside as if saying the Lord be with you, their knickers are outside,” MP Pece-Laroo division/Gulu East Charles Onen said as he revealed how the blessed sacrament should be the only item exposed and not the breasts.
According to Buturo, the current generation deems nudity as present-day civilisation and they think it’s cool and great.
“Our inability as Africans to know what we want is what is causing this problem that you not only see a decline about a collapse in values,” Buturo said.
Onen said the bodies of the artists are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
“You cannot invest in nudity,” Onen said, as he pointed to most artists abusing drugs to perform for the public.
Onen, however, thanked artistes who have stood the test of time by criticising issues in society and being role models under the prevailing circumstances.
“What we see today is our artistes come and dress up naked with children at home watching. Children learn by copying, and tomorrow, our children will behave like the artists,” Onen said.
The dilemma of a Godly country
Buturo revealed how the effort to create a country with morals was not a religious undertaking.
“Sheebah and Cindy are victims of something that has gone wrong in society but which, unfortunately, people see and admire instead of opposing, they rather associate with modernity,” Buturo said.
Onen said Uganda has a national motto that should guide the country.
“The framers of our Constitution gave Uganda the motto ‘For God And My Country’ and we are not on that level like Afghanistan,” Onen told the press, adding that “we must have a standard that we must follow and God must be number one.”
According to Onen, the press and social media should promote Godly content and non-Godly content should not be given the room to shine on these platforms.
“Why do you take a picture of someone appearing with only knickers and post it on WhatsApp, and you want people to watch and appreciate, mind about the children in 10 years, how will they be appearing on stage?” Onen argued.
Buturo said nations are made of weak or strong capabilities depending on how morally committed they are.
“If this nation does not say this is the direction we shall take and is committed to punishing those that violate the standards, then we continue to exhibit weakness, and we are in trouble,” Buturo said.
Pull up your socks
Buturo called upon the Ministry of Ethics and Ministry of Information, Communication, Technology and National Guidance to pull up their socks.
“If they do not, then we are in trouble. Some will say it’s my right to be naked, it’s my right to sleep with my mother,” Buturo said.
Buturo said while parents, schools and the government have a role, he urged the government to address the situation.
The legislators appeared to critic politicians such as Deputy Speaker and Ruhinda North County MP, Thomas Tayebwa, who appeared at the concert as an act of endorsing nudity, and the viral video of the Prime Minister and Kakumiro Woman MP, Robinah Nabbanja, singing ‘Okwepicha’ a connotation that implies a sexual innuendo.
