Ghanaian actress Lydia Forson took to Twitter to plead with members of the public who beg her for money to stop. From her tweet, people get the impression that she is “rich” but she says she is not and that she’s a hustler like everyone else.
Dear People of God,
I’m not rich, in fact, I’m FAR from; I dey hustle like you all.
I just dey package well. 😃
The money you’re begging me for, me sef, on some days that maybe all I have. 😩
If I say I don’t have, I don’t have!!
mon gye sa 😢
— Miss Forson (@lydiaforson) August 28, 2018
Miss Forson (@lydiaforson) may not be alone in this as many celebrities and public personalities have complained about the amount of money people request to either borrow or get for free from them.
In a 2014 interview with TMZ Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire TV personality revealed that people ask her for money not on need but on her wealth. Oprah said nobody who comes to her needs anything less than $50,000 and she makes the point that when she was making less they were asking less.
Last year, award winning Nigerian singer, Darey Art Alade, was forced to condemn people he called “fraudulent fans who beg celebrities for money on social media”, saying that “such people are fake; without real problems”. The alternative music singer advised celebrities “to be mindful of fans who beg them for money because in spite of how the public see celebrities, they are also laden with personal problems”.
Public pleas like Lydia Forson’s should kick-start a debate on the repercussions of asking public figures for money without considering the fact that some of these people may be in delicate positions entrusted with funds they don’t actually own.
According to anti-corruption experts, a begging culture is a symptom of corruption. This is why it’s important our public officials and celebrities need to channel their support of people in need through proper Charity frameworks and not dish out cash and gifts simply because people need them.
