Being a Kenyan (for those not in the know, Kenya is a
beautiful country located on the East Africa coast); on seeing the word “cons”
on the headline immediately caught my attention. This is so since from this
neck of the woods, one too many a careless/unsuspecting person(s) has suffered
all kinds of con games at the hands of seemingly genuine swindlers. What
compounds the situation further is that even old women have dug their claws
into this vice with most operating in shopping malls were tactics such as
drugging or use of charms to confuse their hapless victims have been known to
be used. As such you can appreciate my curiosity to find out how this con games
play out in weddings.
The writer of this article, Charles Onyango-Obbo, calls
this type of con “the asymmetrical con”. That is the con in which no one is
killed, injured or gets unjustly cheated. This story revolves around happening
in the wedding scene of our good neighbors, Uganda. Of particular interest is
increases in incidents were couples would open their presents only to find
empty boxes, boxes stuffed with old newspapers or even stones.
It has since been
discovered by wedding planners and organizers that most of this gifts are
brought by wedding crashers(people who were not invited to the wedding). They
visit their local supermarkets, get an empty carton and buy cheap wrapping
paper of ideal size. What follows is the stuffing of the box preferably with
stones to make the gift appear real by the weight and clanking of stones when
shaken by probing security at the wedding venue. Once this is done the wedding
crasher precedes to the wedding venue with his/her “gift” in hand. Let’s face
it; no wedding coordinator is going to turn away a guest bearing gifts for the
marrying couple despite not having an invitation card. They get to enjoy the
whole wedding phases and most will be spotted gulping down corpus amounts of
food at the wedding reception and leaving the wedding happy as a pig in mud.
The second kind of con revolves around betrothal (better
known as introduction). This is where the prospective bridegroom goes with “his
people” to the brides home to officially asks for her hand in marriage. In
Uganda this is regarded as one of the most critical stages in the marriage
process. So naturally over time these ceremonies have become big affairs with
some introductory parties having “delegations” numbering over 1000 persons!
Impressions reign supreme during these visits as most families will want to be
seen as having given their daughter to “somebody” the wealthier the better. But
in case the bridegroom is not as wealthy as expected; conspiracies are
immediately forged between the groom and the future in laws. Bridegrooms have
been known to hire cars from showrooms and give the car(s) as a present to the
girl’s parents “for raising such a beautiful young woman” during introductory
parties. All this in an attempt to appear as a person with means. Invariably
the car(s) are returned to the showrooms after the ceremony and any inquiries
by curious relatives on the whereabouts of the car are immediately settled by a
flimsy explanation of having sold the car to avoid eating into their pension
funds (the girl’s parents) what with the high cost of running and maintain a
car?
If you thought that such behavior is only practiced in
Africa think again. In Japan for instance; because many families scatter and it
is impossible to get them together for something like a wedding, most people
rent fake relatives and friends to fill the family chairs at weddings! If this
two examples are anything to go by, expect to see and hear of more bizarre acts
in weddings…..
To view my other articles, follow this link http://lewis-kamau.xomba.com/user/1070725/articles
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