Recently, I listened to an argument between a Christian and a Muslim, during which each passionately defended his faith. I asked them why they were not defending the African faith. They both said it was satanic! I asked whether God came to Africa only 150 years ago through Europeans and Arabs and whether, for the thousands of years before that, only Satan had access to Africa, while God manifested himself to Abraham, Moses, Ishmael and John-the-Baptist?

I asked whether the words Katonda (Luganda), Ruhanga (Runyankore), Rubanga (Luo), Ngai (Kikuyu), Mngu (Kiswahili), Kibumba (Lusoga), Allah (Arabic), Jehovah (Hebrew) and God (English), did not mean the same thing and whether the non-English, non-Arabic translations were also satanic? All these communities believe in the supremacy of the God in their various languages, they all pray, repent, offer gifts, sacrifices and believe in goodness on earth as an investment for a good life after death.

It is estimated that there are 70,000 ethnicities on Planet Earth, each with its own language and culture, and I believe that God knows each language and its culture. Why is it, that only Africans believe that the "real God" could only descend to them through other cultures and therefore any faith they held before the advent of foreigners was satanic?

The Jews have held onto Judaism, even when Israel was captured by the Philistines and they scattered into exile for 1,500 years. The Arabs, also biological grandchildren of Abraham, have held onto their religion. The Chinese, have held onto their belief, Confucius, for thousands of years, Indians have kept their faiths, Hinduism and Buddhism for thousands of years.

Although Europeans adopted Christianity, they mixed it with a heavy dose of their various cultures, which is why there are many versions of Christianity. Some pray on Sunday and celebrate Christmas because Sunday was the day they used to worship the sun and December 25 was an important cultural day, and there are those who do not. Why is it that Africans found it easy to discard, despise and abuse the thousands-of-years faith, which their forbearers had revered with dedication?

Popular belief is that African faith is heathen and associated with human sacrifices, but we must distinguish between African faith, African medical practices and cults. They're literally as far apart as a church, a hospital and the underworld. In Luganda, traditional healers fall in the medicine branch, with practitioners known as "Abasawo". Faith practitioners are "Abasamize", yet cults or underworld practitioners are "Abalogo". When Europeans demonised them without distinction, they went underground, practiced in the dark, without supervision, which opportunists, quacks and cults took advantage of to practice acts of murder, rape and reap-offs.

The Bible further tells of God's anger whenever His people turned from him, he destroyed them with 'The Floods', the fire of Sodom and Gomorrah and 475 years after Jesus, he delivered the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines, scattering them into exile, where they still live. It was only in 1947 that they began re-establishing the State of Israel, but are still at war with Palestine. Could it be that the gods of Uganda are also angry with us for turning away from them and worshipping a foreign God? We need divine revelation so that we are not a people who have discarded our past but have no future!

Ms Kamya is the interim chairperson, Uganda Federal Alliance