A look at the insult of extravagance in a crisis

One fellow with a tinge of self-deprecating humor says that he will start gate crashing the weddings of MPs.

He has observed that they get gifted with ‘obscene’ sums of money from the Speaker or her Deputy. These sums he says, for a public servant he can only dream about receiving in a lump sum when he retires.

He then brought me to speed about the happenings at the wedding of Mityana Municipality MP Francis Butebi Zaake.

That Zaake had invited Speaker Anita Annet Among to witness the union with his sweetheart. Ms Among being busy elsewhere decided to write to Zaake and in the envelope put a gift of Shs10 million. 

The English use the idiom that advises folks ‘never to look a gift horse in the mouth.’ To tell the age and therefore usefulness of a horse, peep in its mouth -and probably count its teeth. 

To the consternation of many, Zaake not only rejected the gift, but he threw the money on the ground with contempt.

Zaake being one of the pillars of the Opposition political party NUP, the act of accepting money from the Speaker may attract criticism about being bought or compromised. So Zaake opted for expediency.

He not only looked the gift horse in the mouth. He dramatically and angrily sent it back to the giver the same way it was sent to him. In full view of the public.

Maybe not exactly. For good measure, his father picked it up. My notes on the gift end there. My public servant friend is kicking himself for not being in the shoes and place of Zaake’s father.

Understandably, he says school fees at the moment are heavily tied around his neck like an albatross. He had to go through someone, to speak to someone to convince the reluctant headmaster of one of the schools his children attend, to allow him some time to make good his outstanding dues.

Some of these stick out like a sore thumb, to the last term. His mother’s hospital bills are now his middle name.

Although my friend says these things with a touch of humor or cynicism, there are many to whom it is not funny at all. They are very angry. The first group takes shelter under the ubiquitous and ever-convenient ‘African culture’ to condemn Zaake for having bad manners and being backward by rejecting a gift from a wedding guest.

It holds water but on that one, we may say is his business. If not, his loss. Others for obvious reasons are happy with the poetic justice and disrespect meted out to the giver. (It comes after the fashion of rejoicing when a government official dies.)

Another group is taken aback by the habit of high-ranking government officials splashing money in public with reckless abandon at every opportunity.

The fact that the sources of this money are not obvious is not exactly good, but that should not be a big problem in Uganda’s extreme circumstances of impunity. It is just that many times it is done in a manner that is not sensitive to the prevailing circumstances.

President Museveni -himself an avid gifter of money in brown envelopes and sacks- is wont to bring the country to attention on topical issues. These days his rather futile and long winding uncoordinated addresses are on the state of the economy, characterised by high prices.

He like the minister of Finance names ‘tightening our belts’ as the major panacea, high up on the list. But then what do they practice?

Reckless, ostentatious consumption. A disgusting show, so gaudy and full of kitsch that one ceases to be concerned about their inconsiderateness and shifts to their outright classlessness and the bad manners of the nouveau riche.

The nouveau riche are people from a low social class who have recently become very rich and like to show this publicly by spending a lot of money. Only this time it is public money.

You never see Bill Gates, Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos; the richest men on the planet throwing money around like it is running out of fashion.  An MP is not on the wall like many of us, that a couple of million shillings would change his life. What would it take away if one put some thought in their gift by choosing a rare book or art piece that the receiver keeps and passes on to their children?

I recall the Katikkiro (prime minister)of Buganda once lambasting young people for going around throwing money to impress. He called such people abakopi  (very cheap social misfits.)

It is a culture that comes from mainly West Africa. You see it a lot in Nigerian movies. A rich person acting like a poor farmer practicing broadcasting planting, throws money at a bride or groom.

This is not only to gift them but also to show all and sundry that they have the money -and may be the power too. In other places it is called  amaalo (urban excitement) that afflicts those who can’t contain themselves on arrival from the provinces.

At the moment the economy has pushed most Ugandans on the edge. Almost everyday there are three or more people on social media putting out an appeal for funds for medical treatment not only abroad but also here at home.

There is almost nothing worth calling an economy in place. Not even one doing very badly. The price of everything is on the rise. The gaping holes in the social safety net are only growing wider that most are falling out to try their hand at crime to stay above the water. Yet the taxes and other dues are hanging on our heads like the proverbial sword of damocles.

Businesses are collapsing and properties are being sold under the weight of debt.  Regulations have become the weapon against the poor, pushing boda boda riders and hawkers off the streets to go back to the villages where land grabbing sent them to towns.

Surely where do some public officials get the audacity and effrontery to behave like everything is okay? How do they insist at this time on riding in motorcades of fuel guzzling vehicles at the expense of tax payers whom they push off the road like they have the right of way? The stale argument that it is budgeted for is unacceptable. How come there are budgetary cuts in other areas including health and education but not on  entertainment, luxury and crass showing off of public officials who seem to be saying that money must be spent, regardless?

If this is not sadism then it can only be a rather unfortunate manifestation of the bug of arrivalism. This comedy must end for it is tragic.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues

Twitter: @nsengoba

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