Mercy

One of the problems about the administration of Amadou Toumani Touré which brought about his demise and ushered in the coup was the impunity of the Malian elite- there were certain ministers who had unquestionably lined their pocket with the state coffers and  faced with the proof of their crime all that ATT could find to say was, infamously: “but he is a ‘Père de Famille’! I cannot drag him before the judiciary, it would be too shameful for him. We must show some mercy.”  This passion for mercy runs through the Malian psyche and yes , of course mercy is a virtue but, surely,  impunity for crimes committed is  a sign of weakness and somehow cowardice for not wanting to deal with a pressing problem?

Keita was the kindest person I ever knew. When he died many people came to me and told me he loved even his enemies and that was true: he did forgive everyone, even the ones who in my opinion he should have brought to justice. He had a Sotralma in Bamako ( a small bus for local transport) When he became ill  nearly eight years ago now he entrusted the care for this small business first of all into the hands  of a young relative. This person took all the money and ran the Sotralma into the ground without any maintenance. Finally Keita took it away from him and gave it to a “friend” to manage. The same story repeated itself until the Sotralma was destroyed and meanwhile Keita had hardly received any profit from it. And these two people decided to behave in this way towards him at a time when he was in a wheelchair and fighting for his life!  But Keita forgave them- meanwhile I have always refused to speak to these two and I studiously ignore them whenever I run into them.  In my mind Keita was also too tainted by this Malian Mercy problem and we often had arguments about it.

I am now faced with this  same Mercy dilemma.   Acé (Hasseye) has undoubtedly stolen  in the region of £2000 from me since 2011 by  lining his pockets with certain of the payments for the electricity bills. He has then kept the letters of warning from the EDM (electricity board) from me and negotiated with them, using the fact that we are going through a crisis and that the Ministry of Tourism has given instructions to the services to be lenient with the hoteliers. According to the EDM he has many times told them to be patient: La Patronne will pay. But the fact is that La Patronne had already paid and he had pocketed the money. Of course it was my fault that I did not insist on all the receipts: but last year I was away most of the time because of illness. The day that I went back to Djenné last October while Keita was ill at Eva’s I was also gravely ill and I only just had the time to give Acé the money for the electricity bill before returning to Bamako: I wrote it in my diary: “To Acé: money EDM “– and the amount.  This was never paid, it is one of the eight bills that are missing.

My stepfather in Sweden thinks I ought to bring in the police. He also thinks that I should haul Acé before the EDM again to have the director repeat the claim that he has been there negotiating. I had decided myself not to bring in the police.  Acé is quite ill and has been suffering from a respiratory problem for the last couple of years. This circumstance, coupled with the fact that he is so much part of the very fibre of my life here made me feel that I must tread softly. I did ask him quietly to tell me the truth and we should somehow be able to overcome this together. But he refused and said that he absolutely had not taken the money. So what to do next? I wanted to sack him today but my two advisors Dra, the manager of the Campement Hotel and Cisse the Djenné tax inspector, both Keita’s closest friends, have now stepped in and although they believe him to be guilty they want me to reconsider for Keita’s sake.  So I have done nothing yet. But I do not believe I can just let it drop! It surely cannot be right? I do need to listen to these two – Dra and Cissé- they are more or less my only friends  with any clout here. Is there another sort of justice here in Mali? Should Mercy prevail at any cost? What would Keita say? And what would I do without Acé? It will be difficult here without him. He is an important part of my life here and he was here from the very beginning. This picture was taken by Keita in 2006 when the two of them went to Gao to by fridges and Freezers for the hotel. They are travelling past ‘The Hand of Fatima’ the mountain   peak by Hombori. (The other pictures by Birgit Snitker)
 It  breaks my heart that Acé has done this!

Later: Cissé has been back again and his advice is that I don’t sack Acé but that I cut his wages by 20%.  I should also remove any responsibility of any payments from him.  Maybe this is what should be done- it is certain that I have to try to hear Keita’s advice in this, and I know that he would advocate Mercy...