Extortion in this country has reached record high. It is done in plain sight in the name of rendering a service or claiming a right. And while the act if punishable by our laws, perhaps the kind I am referring to may be interpreted differently from that committed by a public officer.
As I predicted in an earlier entry, good Samaritans have bombarded various spots on the roads every day, pretending to fix the washed away infrastucture as is always the case during rainy seasons. They wave to private motorists ignoring commuter or motorcyclists, begging for alms for fixing the road. To a lay man’s interpretation, it is car-owners who need or use roads; hence, burdening them with fixing the road.
Some go to the extent of banging on cars as they pass, demanding money for a supposed noble task they were never engaged for in the first place. This is when you realise that the act it more about extorting motorists perceived to be richer. But roads are beneficial to all, pedestrians and animals alike.
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Car owners are burdened with carrying the sick and even the dead to hospitals by those who don’t own them. This is all part of community living. The same sprit should be applied when using roads; everyone must pitch in, not just motorists.
After all, we all pay taxes to government meant to service these roads. Roads aside. The same society assumes owning dogs, especially exotic ones, entails money grows on tress in the backyard.
They lay in wait for an opportunity to get bitten and in the event they do, lo and behold! The victim unleashes venom with unrealistic demands. The assumption that a dog owner would be ignorant of laws pertaining to the animals they are harbouring is absurd.
They demand obscene amounts in pay outs in ‘compensation’ and anti-rabies jabs, still on the assumption that the owners are blind to actual costs. People also demand compensation for their wandering livestock if attacked by a dog within its yard, disregarding laws to place them within protective enclosures. It’s all about an opportunity to make a ‘killing’.
Malawians ought to be better than their Warm Heart of Africa motto. Otherwise there is nothing warm about its people. Not everything should be about money.
Helping each other is getting lost in the currency and I will not be surprised when we start charging each other to attend funerals and other events. The days for knocking on a neighbor’s door for salt are being replaced with befriending only those who have something to offer. And before we rush to demand compensation, check what the laws say about a situation to validate any claim.
Otherwise, some of the situations only demand an apology for ‘my dog killing your chicken in its yard’ as it was just in a wrong place at the wrong time. Again, getting bit is not an open and shut case. It’s also not a pay day.
Stop monetizing everything, including pretending to be hit by a car just to milk the driver. It ain’t cool.
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