Why middle class Kenyans are living a lie

There is an eatery off Mombasa Road, Nairobi, that is just a spectacle of contrast. It is an old, rickety structure made of iron-sheet. Its walls and roof are black with soot. It is one of those eateries you would expect to find grease-laden unskilled workers from Industrial Area, silently wolfing a frugal meal of chapati and beans.

Instead, there are sharply dressed customers. Men and women in crisp attire and suave mannerisms helping themselves to a sumptuous dish of chicken and ugali as they catch up on office politics. Besides the plate of ugali and chicken in front of one of the patrons is an expensive smartphone. And dangling on the index finger of his left hand is a car key, a symbol of his economic status.