Small balls, big greed: The poverty of those who have everything

There is something that I find absolutely disgusting. This is the greed of people who already have more than they could possibly need, yet still wake up every morning looking for something else to steal. These are people with land, money, businesses, houses, cars and connections, but for some unknown reason none of it is ever enough. They must have more, and if that means taking the little that a poor person has, so be it. They really do not care. 

WHO DOES THAT???!!

Imagine a poor man who has spent his entire life working for a small piece of land. It might be the only thing his father left him, and his grandfather left his father. It is where he has raised his children, buried his parents and planted his matooke. He may not have much, but that land is his security, his dignity and his children's inheritance. Then along comes some wealthy, politically connected fellow who looks at that little piece of land and decides he wants it. 

He just wants it and this is not because he needs it nor because he cannot afford to buy land elsewhere. He wants it because he wants it and because he believes he can take it. If the poor man refuses to surrender his land, he will threaten him intimidate him, drag him through the courts, have him arrested, let him rot in prison while the powerful man enjoys his whiskey in a tastelessly furnished air-conditioned sitting room, all over a piece of land he could have afforded to buy a hundred times over.

What kind of poverty of the mind is this?? The disgusting thing is that we know these people, live among them, know their names. We see them at functions, shake their hands, listen to their speeches and watch them parade themselves as respectable members of the community. We have seen their lies, their hypocrisy and their shameless displays of wealth. They attend church, make generous donations and expect to be celebrated as honourable citizens. 

We have reached a point where some people seem to believe that political connections are ownership documents, that knowing the president, belonging to the right circles, having the right surname or coming from the right community gives them greater rights over Uganda than everybody else.

Uganda does not belong to the Banyankole. I apologise for the  generalisation. I am a Munyankole myself, and I know that the greed and wrongdoing of few individuals should never be used to condemn an entire tribe. My anger is directed at those who abuse wealth, power, political connections to exploit others regardless of their tribe. Uganda does not belong to the politically connected, and it certainly does not belong to whichever greedy individual has managed to make himself comfortable in the corridors of power. It belongs equally to the poor widow in the village, the farmer in his garden, the market vendor selling tomatoes and the businessman sitting in his mansion. 

No tribe, family or political connection confers a superior right to another Ugandan's property. PERIOD. But what is a poor man supposed to do in the face of such power? What chance does a widow have against a man who can summon the police, hire the best quack lawyers and make a telephone call to someone in State House? Where does she go? Who listens to her? Who protects her?

We, the ordinary people, the unconnected people, the powerless people, can have the truth on our side and still lose. We can have the law, the documents, the witnesses and the graves of our ancestors on that land, and still lose because someone with money and connections has decided that what belongs to us should belong to him. We do not have powerful friends, no important phone numbers, no money to fight endless court battles. We just have our dignity, our anger and the terrible knowledge that we are being robbed in broad daylight.

What makes this greed even more revolting is the hypocrisy. These are the same people who speak about developing Uganda, growing the economy, creating wealth and transforming society. Transforming society into what, exactly? A country where the rich own everything and the poor must beg for permission to exist? WHAT IS THAT??!!

You cannot claim to be building a country while destroying the lives of the people who live in it. You cannot talk about prosperity while using power to dispossess the powerless. You cannot preach development while treating another person's livelihood as an inconvenience standing between you and your next acquisition. That is NOT development at all, It is theft dressed in a suit, driving a new Toyota Prado with blinking blue and red lights. 

Tell me, how much is enough? How many acres must you own before you can sleep peacefully? How many houses must you build? How many billions must be kept under your bed before you finally feel that you have arrived? If you have already accumulated billions, what will another ten million shillings do for you? Will you eat more, sleep better, become more handsome, more intelligent? What satisfaction comes from knowing that somewhere, a family is crying because you have taken the only thing they had?

Let me tell you... There is something pathetic, shameful, incontempible and disgustingly pitiful about a person who has everything but still needs to steal from someone who has almost nothing, which is the tragedy of greed. It does not matter how much you acquire. If your sense of worth depends on taking what belongs to somebody else, you will always be poor, not financially, of course. Your bank account may be overflowing, but in character, in conscience, in humanity, you are bankrupt. That is a poverty mentality, a small-minded, desperate mentality that no amount of money can cure. 

This brings me to the question of balls. Yes, balls. I mean because what does it say about a wealthy man who cannot simply approach a poor man and offer to buy his land at a fair price? A man who needs policemen, lawyers, political godfathers and the entire machinery of the state to overpower someone who can barely afford legal representation? For all his money and influence, he cannot face an ordinary citizen on equal terms.

They may have big money, big connections, big cars but have very very very small balls. I repeat. They may have big money, big connections, big cars but have very very very small balls. They know themselves. There is no courage in bullying the poor. There is no greatness in using your connections to destroy someone who cannot fight back. There is no achievement in accumulating wealth through intimidation and dispossession. If anything, it reveals just how little you really are.

Strip away the money, the bodyguards, the political connections and the titles, and what remains? A person who could not even bring himself to deal fairly with a poor man. How small must you feel inside to need that much power over somebody else? What a sad existence.

The saddest part is that many of these people may never face justice. The poor man may never recover his land, nor will the widow ever see her home again. The powerful man may continue attending church, making generous donations, receiving public praise and being introduced at functions as an honourable gentleman.

It could be true that the courts will not hold him accountable and he will grow old surrounded by his stolen riches, convinced that he has won, and we, the ordinary people, will remain powerless before him.  We will have to swallow our anger, count our losses and continue with our lives because we have nothing to win this fight.  

Even when the law fails to deliver justice, the truth of what was done remains. God sees it all, the tears of the widow, the desperation of the farmer, the suffering of the family whose only crime was owning something a powerful person wanted. There might not be a shameful and dramatic downfall and karma may take its time, but one day, whether through the consequences of their actions, the judgment of history or the questions their own children begin to ask, these people may have to confront what they have built their fortunes upon. I wonder what they will say.

From where my feet are, there is nothing impressive about a man who has accumulated so much wealth but has so little humanity left. You can own half of Uganda and still be a very small man, and no amount of stolen land will ever make your balls any bigger.