{UAH} Truly in Kampala, the love of money is the root of all madness - Comment -

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Truly-in-Kampala--the-love-of-money-is-the-root-of-all-madness/-/434750/2271684/-/hs4sl2/-/index.html

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Truly in Kampala, the love of money is the root of all madness

Entering Kampala city using whichever route, you will see a fellow looking up into the skies, talking to himself, another mumbling and looking for something in the garbage.

He or she is one of over six million people health officials categorise as mentally sick out of our 36 million population. That is one out of every six, or 17 mad Ugandans in every hundred.

Below are some of the common causes of madness in Kampala today, though the list is by no means exhaustive:

Someone borrows money as a matter of urgency to finance a quick, super deal like buying precious minerals or a consignment of "black dollars" and of course loses it all to conmen. Besides the traditional confidence tricks, more now are being executed via mobile money transfers.

The victims are usually not business people, hence are unable to protect their "investment." Some kill themselves, which is probably better than running mad.

Another person borrows from a single lender, the so-called loan sharks who have turned even our Members of Parliament into virtual slaves. The balance due grows faster than the borrower ever anticipated.

This kind of madness grows more slowly as the victim looks for different sources of money to keep paying the new slave master. But it is also harder to cure. Some victims flee the country and sever all contact. The rest suffer a mild but incurable madness.

A lower middle-income man spends five years paying fees for a rural girl in high school and through university.

On completing her course, she dumps him either for a richer guy or simply because she has come to her senses and realised that transactional sex is transactional sex whatever currency it is paid with – Uganda shillings, tuition fees, US dollars, job placement, Kenya shillings, a small car... But the man cannot come to accept that he has also been receiving value for his money and has not been cheated.

This madness is hard to cure because the victim cannot accept that he is also the villain, and cannot share the problem with his wife or any decent friends.

He goes into depression, starts abusing alcohol at an advanced age or worse still, looks for a new, "honest" victim without regard to the health hazards involved.

A fellow connives with a worker colleague to stab another in the back and get him sacked and take his job. However, the collaborator gets the job the stabber wanted in the first place. The stabber can resign in a huff, can remain as a disgruntled employee or run mad.

Such are the people you find reciting the gospel about Judas Iscariot as they "preach" on the street. They don't seem to know any other part of the Bible.

Another fellow goes to a witchdoctor to help him become rich, and after a year of engagement, it is only the witchdoctor who has become richer from the relationship.

There are many such victims in the corporate and professional world and what aggravates their condition is that they will never admit what caused it.

There are many other causes of madness and the health ministry should compile a comprehensive list of things to avoid to remain mentally healthy, categorised in what afflicts males more and which attack females most.

Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International Fellow for development journalism. E-mail: buwembo@gmail.co

Truly in Kampala, the love of money is the root of all madness - Comment -
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Truly-in-Kampala--the-love-of-money-is-the-root-of-all-madness/-/434750/2271684/-/hs4sl2/-/index.html