The Wrath of Karma: A Tale of a Thief

In Malawi, superstition is often the cause of so much bad news than actual coincidence or consequence. ut karma is something a lot of us believe in, it brings a balance of doing bad to cultivate bad. BI was recently invited to a human resource workshop with human resource officers from different organizations. It was the perfect place to network and place yourself in a position to be considered if a job opening was available in their organization.

Being the ambivert I am, I happened to channel my introverted side on the day. So, as I walked into the room where the workshop was happening, I quickly scanned the people there and found the person who seemed to be alone. From a glance, I immediately noticed that he was Asian.

Hesitantly, I walked over to him and asked if the seat next to him was taken, and thank heavens it wasn’t. I sat down and got comfortable waiting for the program to start.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed that my neighbor was trying hard to speak, but was holding back. To assure him I was okay with having a conversation, I slightly turned my head towards him and smiled. Writing this, I can only hope that it was a smile he saw instead of a grimace. Whichever it was, it did do the trick.

Within moments, we were sharing our personal information, and that is how I learned that he was a Sri Lankan who had spent a lot of his adult life in Vietnam and had just recently been transferred to Malawi to head the offices here. When I told him I worked in the accounts office, he sighed. I knew there was a story there and I went digging.

of the man who stole millions

Before he had been transferred to Malawi, he had only visited the country a few times. Not on vacation, but I want to check on the business on this side. I wish I could state the business they were in, but some of you are too nosy and would easily find him.

Anywho, when he got here for the permanent transfer, he asked his managers to allow an audit to be done, just so he was sure of what he was taking on. First, the accountant in the Malawian office opposed it, stating the company had just been audited for the year and there was no need for it to undergo another.

However, after being pressured, he caved in. Unfortunately, they were not going to use their usual auditors, internal auditors from Vietnam were sent to do the job. Immediately they landed in the country, there was a change of mood from the accountant. He became more and more hostile, and would reluctantly give out information when asked.

For the Sri Lankan, he thought his hostility was mainly due to changes the company was going through. He believed it was mainly due to the evolution of leadership.

He hoped that as time went on, they would be able to build a relationship like he had with the outgoing boss. As days passed and more questions were asked on the whereabouts of the money, and cheques that had not been accounted for, it was obvious that such kind of relationship was nothing but a fairytale.

Before he knew it, he had been staring at an empty chair for a whole week. The accountant’s phone was unreachable, and no way was he going to make his conclusions until the audit had been finalized. Easy to say, that there was money missing, a lot of money missing, and no one to explain what exactly had happened.

karma: of millions and medics

The one thing about money is that it does not cure you, it could buy you the best medics, but when fate decides to strike, it strikes. But sometimes, when we get money, we pray that it is enough to make us face fate and plead for it to stall for just a while. But wishes are not horses, and so every day, you hope they turn into a stallion.

Having the phone off does not necessarily mean being unreachable, especially in places like Malawi. Hiding sometimes is not hiding, people that know you the most will always find you. And that is what happened with the Accountant. Within days, he had gotten wind of the fact that he was a wanted man. His secrets had been unveiled, it was a matter of time before the police were knocking on his door for questioning.

As I said, wealth does not mean health, especially when the said wealth is not clean.

The thing with cardiac arrest is you do not know that it is happening, sometimes it feels like a knife slowly cutting through the heart. Sometimes, like a pinch by a toddler, and other times, you faint and that’s fate sealed.

There was not enough time to warn his family of what had happened, what was happening, and what was bound to happen. Within a few moments, he was being carried to the hospital. He could see the bright lights, the nurses in white and blue scrabs, and could hear the faint voices however his mouth felt sealed. Regardless of the many thoughts that were running through his mind, the words just seemed not to leave his mouth. Again he asked himself, was it karma?

The funniest thing about death, when it visits, is that you cannot cheat it. You try to run, jump, fly, and it will always catch. Within minutes, he could feel his soul slip out of his fingers. His eyes felt heavy, just not with sleep. He was already fantasizing about the peaceful sleep he would have. At that moment, he knew karma had come to bite him.

But you know, you might easily escape the consequences of your actions, but karma still bites the ones you leave behind.

it all burns down

No one ever said that karma does not follow you even in death, as a matter of fact, karma only decides to leave you when it wants.

Three months after the Accountant’s death, things were just getting back to normal. His family was finally transitioning from the mourning phase and was embracing their new normalcy.

At the office, plans were being drafted on how to write off the debt he had left behind. Once in a while, people would talk about him and how his own doings had made him succumb to death. But ultimately, the news was slowly fading, and the Accountant was becoming a fickle memory.

But as I said, there is something about karma and when it chooses to strike.

Two weeks into the third month, the Sri Lankan drove into the parking lot of the office and could faintly hear the screams of a woman. As he walked closer to his office, the louder and clearer the woman became, and boy did she not sound amused. There was vile laced in her words, and curses he could not understand resounded in the corridors.

As he walked closer, he made out the woman’s shape, immediately he knew it was the Accountant’s widow. She was dressed in a black blouse, had her chitenge wrapped around her chest, and was in slippers. Her face showed a combination of anger and sadness. Her eyes looked dead like she had just gotten the last beating of her life.

Immediately she spotted him, she directed her words to him. Having stayed in the country for no more than five months, there were just a few words he could hear.

“Amuna anga munawalodza anapita, pano mwati mutenge mwana wanga? Chifukwa cha ndalama zoona? Wanga mubwenza!!!”

He learned that earlier that morning, a fire had gutted the late Accountant’s house and had claimed his only son. The house had completely been consumed by the fire, there was nothing that was saved. The wife had gone to her morning prayers and by the time she heard her house was on fire, everything was gone. Her son was gone.

She made so many claims that day about the witchcraft that Asians practiced, alleging that her late husband had warned her about the new boss. Truly, it was like a scene taken from a Nollywood movie.

And just like that, any evidence of the money that was stolen was gone in flames. Unfortunately, it claimed an innocent boy in the process.

But that was karma served on a plate.