Village drunkards have taken their ‘funeral services’ online

From time immemorial in most parts of Uganda it is the work of the village drunkard to publicly mock and speak ill of the dead.

He or she does what many self-respecting people could never bring themselves to do for fear of being called uncultured, mean and immoral. In a sense the village drunk is the voice of the voiceless spurred on by Dutch courage and having nothing to lose.

If a rich person suffers a misfortune, is bereaved or dies, the society which has an axe to grind with him simply buys the village drunkard a good amount of brew. It should be enough to intoxicate him but also leave a level of sobriety that allows for loud intelligible purveying of the grievances of the community. Many times it comes spiced with humour that forces people to laugh in the middle of the tragedy.

He will say the rich fellow did not give his neighbours lifts in his expensive car now the neighbours are lifting him like a sack of potatoes for free with their hands. He talks about bananas that ripen in the field instead of being given to the neighbours. He challenges the dead man to sit up and eat just one. He will spill his wife snatching secrets, be they true or false.

After he has spoken at length a few courageous individuals push the nuisance away. But the point will be out there eliciting debate. He may return after an interval of coaching in the dark.

Many of these deep seated complaints are driven by jealousy and a misguided sense of entitlement. If someone is successful out of their ingenuity and industry or was born with a silver spoon, it does not mean that all his neighbors should sponge off him. But such is life.

As society goes digital we have now taken the habit to social media. But this time almost everybody has gone native. We live in a society where inequality has not only drawn a line but dug a huge rift valley.

It is mainly those who have a public job and a political connection that seem to take the cream and be pampered. The two years of the Covid-19 pandemic only made matters worse.

As others were locked down without an income, borrowing and selling their property to treat the sick at prohibitive rates, the politicians and connected people kept picking their pay. The stories of money being shared out was too enduring and ubiquitous to ignore. It was their properties that were rented to house the quarantined. They had a finger in labs that were approved for costly tests for the virus. Some even went abroad for medical attention courtesy of the taxpayer.

Social media gives us a measure of where the so-called middle class stands.

Because in these trying times they bore the brunt, taking pay cuts or accepting layoffs, contributing or picking the bills of their ailing relatives they could no longer wait for the media which in some instances was cowed because they had to sell advertising space.

Many took the bull by the horns and assumed the role of the village drunkard. They spill their bitterness. Praying for the big people to fall sick and die in all manner from emojis, to cartoons and jokes.

It became risky for anyone to call for calm and respect for the sick and the dead like ‘our culture dictates.’ They bundle such a person up with the ones that have caused them suffering.

As long as we have these wide disparities in incomes and the lack of a social safety net to shield the majority, people who have to fend for themselves or die will not be polite anymore. They will viciously and insensitively attack those they think are being given an unfair advantage at the expense of society.

It is not only going to stop on social media. There are now too many reports of young people who have taken to brigandage even in broad daylight, especially on the jammed roads as a way of life. They simply hull a rock into the car to break the windows and even the skull of the driver. They then rob the bleeding victim clean and leave them to die without a care.

You can no longer say to them that this is immoral and insensitive. They view anyone who looks well off as being part of the system that has deprived them. He has to suffer too.

So if anyone associated with the state dies, do not be surprised if people rejoice and say nasty things on social media.

They have been dehumanised in so many ways. They find catharsis in sadism and being brutal to those they feel have taken away what is theirs. Asking them to be human is telling them to give what they do not have. It is taking away their drug and relief.

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Lately, you must have noticed some Opposition politicians from Northern Uganda have, without provocation, taken to continuously attacking and contradicting their fellow Opposition political parties and their leaders. Many times they have gone trivial and tribal to win arguments and sympathy.

Is there a possibility that these politicians knew something about the malignant ailment afflicting Uganda’s now deceased Speaker, the eloquent dapper, and affable Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah?

Have they been positioning themselves to replace Oulanyah back in his Omoro County constituency? Is it their plan to use that as a ladder for greater things? Is their vituperation and asinine remarks against fellow Opposition leaders a way of declaring that they are ‘good Opposition,’ the NRM can work with?

What about the praises they have lately been receiving from heavies within the NRM? Then their painstaking assertions that there is no harm in talking and working with NRM, a party and government they have hitherto demonised?

Time will soon tell us all these things.

May the soul of Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah rest in eternal peace and may the Lord grant his family and friends the fortitude to bear this huge loss.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues

Twitter: @nsengoba