Crtd 05-10-15 Lastedit 14-08-20

My Money Stolen
Kamkala Soap #8

We are now five days after the miraculous return of my TSh 2 520 000/= by Kees.

Actually it was my fault. I did not think of locking away my money box properly. The door lock of my room had no keys. I did not bother to replace it. It was even more my fault because I had already suspected small theft from my money box and started to keep track of the balance in my computer at every mutation of its contents.
But when time came to prepare for paying Daniel's shipyard another TSh 2 000 000/= I found TSh 2 520 000/= missing. The last mutation in that box and its balance check unfortunately was 10 days earlier. The thief left exactly TSh 300 000/=. Why count what you leave when you are stealing? Coincidence? Not only was the TSh 300 000/= left - a strangely round number - the stolen TSh 2 520 000/= was exactly the money I retrieved with so much effort from my deposit with Kees. This made me doubt myself for days. Did I decide to hide money somewhere and forgot about it? I wanted to believe it. But I had to admit to myself I remembered clearly how I had thought of hiding and had rejected the idea. My house mate Victor had left for Bukoba, Gerald for Dar es Salaam. Both had left after the last balance check, so both were logically on the list of suspects.
I put the box and some plastic pockets it contained in a plastic bag, in order to, who knows, have it researched for traces later.
I carefully checked the house for leaks. Doors, except the the kitchen door we use, are all closed, apart from padlocks and door locks, with inside bolts. The windows have steel bars and showed no signs of having been broken or being liable to lifting: screws, big nails, heavy plugs.  No way to get in, except through the one door that the dwellers use. Other doors have their inside bolts closed permanently. If any stranger got in, it should have been with keys: no signs of forced locks whatever.
We live with three, Gerald, Victor and me, and we had four other visitors in those 10 days, who can have been around when I was out: their respective secret girlfriends and a nephew with his girlfriend. But these visitors could not have been alone in the house it times I was out. That was only possible for Gerald and Victor. For the rest, the theft should have been in team context. Victor does not drink, never borrows, and never entered my room. A quick guest-thief in company would be very lucky to get hold of a box containing money, take it (leaving exactly TSh 300 000 !!), get out of my room again unseen. My door could not be locked, but I cannot imagine ever having left it open on leave. It is jamming a little, so everybody hears when it is opened. The thief, if interested in not being heard, most likely has been alone in the house.
Gerald was the one seeing me taking me money out of the box many of the six times he borrowed and the four times he returned money. It did not come up in my mind to distrust him.

I decided to drop a theft story to Kees, giving the wrong amount by omitting a zero.
I told them about the short list of six, adding I could not imagine Kees' in-laws Victor or Gerald having done it. His wife told me a moving story of one of her best friends visiting her and disappearing with a bag full of valuables.
Three days later, Gerald, who never has airtime and always needs to borrow my phone, calls me from Dar es Salaam. He pretended not to know or he really did not. He displays a vocal embarrassment with the news of the theft which I could not clearly identify as enacted. Then asks how much was stolen. If he simply had not heard from his sister, this could be a genuine question. Had he heard, he might try to check what I felt I was missing. Unnecessarily dangerous, I would say.
I told him I felt part of the problem, because I had kept my money to openly, was ready to forgive the thief, provided I would get my money back.. I told him sufficient traces were found to identify the thief if necessary. Thus I hoped to prevent him from spending my money, in case he would have it.

The reader unacquainted with Africans should get some help here to understand the situation: if you have a domestic animal, a dog is the best example, you will know that a bond exist between you and him/her. The dog knows it should not take anything from the kitchen table. But you perfectly know that if you forget to put that sausage in the fridge when you go out, the dog will finally be unable to resist eating it. The dog will not, after the wicked act (he knows!), fly from your home forever, he will still feel the bond after this misbehavior, and so will you. You will not kill the beast or sell it after this event. You will blame yourself, forget about it and continue your life in your ecological niche with your beloved dog. This is exactly how you should consider Africans if you want to live on the African continent. They are lovely and nice people, but they are closer to nature than you. They are fundamentally unlike you. And nature knows no property rights, the passions of the present prevail, and there is no anticipation of the future. I know this is politically very incorrect, I am not going to draw any political consequences from it. All I can say is that this is the way I learned to live with Africans and be happy with them. (In the same easy vein Africans might go for killing you, and you might be unable to act otherwise than by being ahead of them, just as you might be very sorry to be forced to kill an attacking lion).

I consulted security company director Bill Geach about possible retrieval operations, finding traces, etc. Bill explained me that security in Africa means prevention only. Lost is lost. He told me of a company having lost 10 000 dollars to a trusted security guard, caught red handed on video.
At the police office he said: how can I have been inside when I was outside?
The police thought this sound reasoning and the case was closed. A successful thief has enough money to keep the police friendly. This brought into my mind the the case of a theft in Jinja. The thief was caught by the target. The target brought him to the police. He had to pay to have him jailed. Then the thief paid for his release. Then the target was paying again for his arrest. The "auction-effect" of any conflict in Africa. As a result, you only find very small thugs and innocent people in African jails: they are the only ones who do not have a yield from a crime that allows them to bribe themselves out.

Then, I realized we sometimes left keys with Kees' housekeeper Kusekwa, because some of us were out without keys. I tested him by leaving my bag in my car. Unlocked. Indeed, he was until his armpits in the bag within three minutes. But that does not prove he took the money.