Human vultures await the naÔve

By Nicholas Asego

The case of losing money due to profound generosity is not a preserve of land sellers. Many sugarcane and tea farmers have been known to flush their sweats down the drain after being deceived by women. In between the caresses and the kisses many have squandered their payments for produce faster than they blink.

The story is told of Mzee Ojwang, a sugarcane farmer from Mumias who walked into a local bank and stuffed his old coat’s pockets with Sh100,000. He had everything worked out: He needed to repair his house, invest in livestock, pay dowry for one of his sons and sort out outstanding school fees.

It was only reasonable or so it seemed to wash his labour away over roast meat. When a waitress welcomed him into an inner chamber away from the noise, he readily agreed. He did not realise when he changed from taking cold soda to chilled beer. He only came to when he woke up the following morning in a strange bed and without a single cent.

From Bureti to Bomet, Kericho, Kisii, Nyamira, Nyeri and Murang’a the story is the same — of peasant farmers who are temporarily transformed into millionaires after being paid their tea and coffee bonuses. As they patronise local pubs, their families are often left languishing in poverty. Twilight girls from far-flung areas have been known to pitch tent at major trading centres in the Rift Valley, whenever the bonuses are paid.

Not so long ago an elderly man lost Sh300,000 to a prostitute he had been partying with.

The man in his late 50s and his sweetheart are reported to have drunk till late in the night before checking into an adjacent inner room. In the wee hours, the woman took off with all his money leaving him only loose change. His screams and curses the following morning changed nothing.

Changed lifestyles

Cases abound of where the rest of the family has ganged up to haul the old men out of their love nests.

Many an old man have been flushed from dingy lodgings and frog-marched home by their machete-wielding sons and forced to share out the spoils with the rest of the family.

In places like Kisii where tempers rip through the hills like molten volcano, fathers who are unwilling to share the tea bonus are likely to be chopped into pieces.

The more adventurous old men simply wish away their mid-life crisis by dashing to Mombasa, Nairobi or Kampala with a nubile girl in tow.

Interestingly, and not to be left out, the Maasai known for being a more preserved lot, have embraced this cultural change, too. Many after selling their pieces of land expose themselves to a new lifestyle characterised by bottled beer and beautiful women. They are known to frequent entertainment joints that litter places like Ongata Rongai.

Others after drinking their livestock sale are left begging for a living unable to revert back to their old austere lifestyle.

From a backwater where land retailed at Sh2,000 an acre, mostly in tiny instalments, Ongata Rongai is now prized destination for real estate developers with a quarter an acre going for Sh2 million and above.

Looking at the imposing homes that have been built on the once expansive savannah, it is a safe guess that the original owners of the land are destitute because they misused the proceeds with twilight girls and flushed the rest down their throats and stomachs.