A taxi tout singsong, “Mayenze, Bubulo, Bududa” as he paces to and fro in search of passengers. Just a few feet from him is a middle-aged lady – a baby firmly wrapped on her back while a large saucepan of boiled maize rests on a short wooden stool infront of her.

She beams with joy as she hands two cobs of maize to her latest customer. As it is a chilly and windy evening, many people are craving for a hot snack and so the maize is selling out faster than usual. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, in Nabuyonga, a young girl delicately carries plates from the sitting room to the kitchen.

“Nanzala, are you sure you firmly closed the chicken house?” Her mother calls after her. “Yes I did. I even put a padlock.”

The family has just ventured into poultry farming starting with 100 chicks hence the extra caution. By the looks of it, it is a normal Saturday evening- nothing out of the ordinary. Even though the clouds have been steadily gathering, no one is particularly worried.

Probably just another rainy night – nothing they haven’t seen before. Only it isn’t. The rain that starts falling at 10pm that night doesn’t relent- it only gets heavier and heavier until four rivers: Nabuyonga, Namatala, Nashibiso and Napwoli all burst their banks resulting into flash floods.

It is reported that the flash floods swept away 14 bridges, nine cars and three motorcycles. More than 700 domestic animals and 4,500 poultry were among the losses. At least 800 households were affected by the floods and 30 people are reported to have lost their lives. In the days that followed, the ministry of Disaster Preparedness and several experts opined that the flash floods were due to climate change.

“Climate change is evident. You can no longer predict when the rains will come and how intense they will be.” they said.

And whilst that may have sounded true, a little more digging reveals that someone did in fact “predict” the occurrence of the floods weeks before this disaster struck. In a video clip shared on his YouTube platform, Prophet Elvis Mbonye of the Zoe fellowship on July 11, 2022, speaks of floods happening that will be attributed to climate change.

A quick scroll through of his YouTube page reveals that this isn’t the first major disaster that he has prophesied about. The eerily accurate and detailed prophecies regarding the catastrophic UPDF chopper crashes in 2012, the 2010 Kampala bombings in which more than 76 revellers were killed, the sudden demise of former health minister, Stephen Malinga – among many others will doubtless leave you gaping in awe.

As you watch these prophetic fulfillments you can’t help but wonder, “Why aren’t the powers that be paying more attention to this prophet? Why are we, as a country, still stumbling about in uncertainty when we have a prophet with a proven track record of fulfillments?

Could the disasters that happened in the past have been averted if the prophecies hadn’t been ignored?”

In the prophecy regarding the 2012 chopper crashes, Prophet Mbonye elucidates on the purpose of the prophecies he gives – that nations may be subdued before the throne of God. That the nations may recognize that the Lord is surely God.

“It is not the politicians, it is not the parliament – all these guys can come up and debate all they want to, but God has foreseen it and God knows you take that action, it is deadly; you take this action and prosperity comes.” He emphasizes.

It appears that like the proverbial Namaan, we would rather take the hard path than simply heed to the instruction of a prophet. We would rather hold press conferences condoling with citizens that have lost their loved ones, offering empty promises to the survivors and woefully shaking our heads at the billions of shillings in lost and damaged property than dare to listen to prophet.

But as has been proven, over and over again; the only destination at the end of ignoring the word of God is peril and destruction. Isn’t it hypocritical that for a nation that professes belief in God, evidenced by the never-ending- never-yielding-results prayer breakfasts; we treat the word of prophecy with contempt?

Given Prophet Mbonye’s more than impressive record of fulfilled prophecies, it would not only be foolhardy but also perilous to ignore him. It is a simple choice really. There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain!

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The author is a social critic