Wedding Cons that are practiced Nowadays.

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…..

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Are you a citizen or owner of your country?

“Wewe ni mwenye- inchi au mwana- inchi?”

This question is from the Swahili language widely spoken in the East Africa region. In English, its translation is as follows; “Are you the owner of your country or are you just a citizen?” I wish to analyze this statement from a political angle. How is such a question pertinent to matters political you may ask; for starters most nations In the world today practice the system of government known as democracy with the exception of a few. Other government systems practiced include socialism, communism, dictatorship, Monarchy just to name a few. My focus is on democratic system of government.

In a democratic system, government is constituted by individuals elected into office by the general populous/citizens of the country in question. Indeed this voting system seems to cut across the broad spectrum of all societal engagements including electing officials to head workers unions, self help groups, neighborhood committees and so forth. Thus I think it is important that all citizens in any given country are made aware of the consequences of electing into office government officials whose contribution will impact negatively on their lives be it economically, socially, morally and spiritually. So, how do you know whether you are the owner of your country or just a citizen?

Look at your country as a company and you are the C.E.O (Chief Executive Officer); in this case government officials are in effect your employees. And just like any other company, employees are expected to perform duties assigned to them by their boss to the expected standards. You vote government officials into office with the hope that they will improve or maintain high standards of management and use of the county’s resources. More often than not, certain individuals seem to dominate national politics in their respective country for many years. What is important to ask yourself as a voter is in the time the individual has served in government, how has he/she performed tasks assigned to him by you the voter. If the answer to this question is good, consider you and all those who voted for the individual as owners of your country (Mwenye- inchi). On the other hand, if your answer is not good and yet every time there is an election you still vote in the same character, consider you and all those who voted for the individual as just citizens of your country. (Mwana- inchi).

The next time you vote for a government official ask yourself whether you want to be the C.E.O or just a citizen of your country. You become the C.E.O by ensuring you cast your vote to the candidate that is more likely to contribute towards betterment of your life as an individual as well as society as a whole through effective and efficient use of available resources. To qualify as just a citizen of your country; be like the proverbial ostrich that buries its head in the sand and keep wasting your vote by aiding corrupt, greedy, archaic, shameless, integrity tainted, pompous and generally unfit individuals into office year in year out. And while you are at it please spare us your ranting on and on about how ineffective the government is.

Make your vote count and share this with all people you know in order to improve the quality of governance in your country.

Life in general

Hi?
This blog aims to provide a different perspective to how we view our day to day life experiences and source topics for discussion by yours truly(me!) will be from all around the globe.
WARNING:Views expressed in this blog regarding any topic will be fully mine and you are welcome to post any comments you may have.Just remember there are three sides to every opinion; my opinion,your opinion and the right opinion!!!