Living in a fool’s paradise

By Vitalis Kimutai

It is that time of the year when small-scale tea farmers wallow in the abundance of beer, nyama choma, wine and women.

In tea growing areas, farmers have invaded trading centres to enjoy their good fortune after receiving the accumulated yearly earnings, popularly known as bonus.

Since Kenya Tea Development Authority released the Sh17.7 billion bonus a couple of weeks ago, the free spending farmers, their pockets lined with wads of cash, have acquired temporary celebrity status in many rural towns.

It is boom time for people who own bars, shops, butcheries, lodgings, matatus, taxis and boda bodas.

From Litein, Kapsabet, Iten, Kericho and Bomet towns to Mogogosiek, Silibwet, Chemaner, Sotik, trading centres in the South Rift, the story is the same: Bars and busaa dens are doing a brisk business selling alcoholic drinks.

merry making

Also vying for attention are Kaptumo, Kobujoi and Serem in Nandi, Nyamira, Kisii, Keroka, and Chebilat in the larger Kisii region.

The festive mood is said to have also engulfed Kiambu, Nyeri and Kirinyaga in Central Province.

The farmers are painting the town red as they compete in buying rounds of beer for all who care to imbibe and share in the merry making.

In the Rift Valley, busaa dens are teeming with clients consuming the illicit brew with abandon besides engaging in other activities.

Commercial sex workers have invaded the major urban and rural centres in to cash in on the boom.

Skimpily dressed women of various shapes, sizes, colours and age from as far as Narok, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and Kakamega have invaded the region for a piece of the action — and clearly they are not disappointed.

"I moved from Kisumu a week ago and I must say that business here has been good," says Mary Akinyi. She has been pocketing more than Sh3,000 a day.

Akinyi told Crazy Monday at Litein trading centre that she has rented a room at a local lodging for which she pays Sh250 a day.

It is often her clients who pay for the room which, after rendering her service to the client, she could still use to entertain as many men as she can entice in a day.

"There are those who prefer a hit and run affair, others prefer an all-night session while others prefer daytime so that they can go back to their wives in the evenings," Akinyi says.

The well built and smartly dressed woman who declined to state her age or the fee she charges for a services, says competition for clients is high in the region and that even more commercial sex workers were flocking into the region.

Margaret Moraa, another sex worker from Nyamira, said she would camp in the area for as long as business is good.

"When the high season ends sometime in January, we will definitely have to relocate to other areas where business is better," Moraa said.

Moraa spoke candidly about the nuts and bolts of her trade. Clients’ demands vary according to age, she disclosed.

"The older the client, the more he pays per session," she said. The younger ones have higher demands but pay poorly.

According to health officials, the incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) has shot up since the bonus. It is suspected that many people are engaging in unprotected sex.

The infected flock to private clinics because they fear visiting public health centres.

"Those who ask for unprotected sex are charged three times the normal rate due to the risk involved," reveals Christine Chebet, who plies her trade at Silibwet trading centre.

A survey by Crazy Monday has established that many condoms dispensers at local bars and lodgings are depleted although they were replenished only recently.

This information was provided by Dr Philip Ngere, the Bomet Medical Officer of Health a month ago while distributing 24,000 condoms to Administration and regular police officers in the area.

Trading centres

"We have enough condoms in our stores and those in need can get them at the local health centres, at Longisa District Hospital and from dispensers at local trading centres," Dr Ngere said while handing over the condoms to a senior administrator.

In the North Rift, cases abound of husbands who have abandoned their families and acquired new ‘wives’.

These wives for hire have been keeping the men busy in the urban centres as they milk them for all they are worth.

That happens as their families go without food and essential commodities while children are sent home for non-payment of school fees.

"The men have abdicated their parental responsibilities and are denying their wives their conjugal rights," says Richard Chebusit, a resident of Kipyosit village in Longisa division of Bomet District.

"It is unfortunate that while they are treated like royalty by their newly acquired acquaintances, their families are left to fend for themselves," Chebusit says.

Smart women accompany their husbands to the banks to ensure that they get some of the money for family use.

"Some of us are forced to enlist the services of provincial administrators to force our husbands to part some of the boom," says Catherine Koech, a resident of Konoin District. "Many homes have been wrecked during previous seasons."

school fees

She says the reality will hit most of the men when they run out of money and especially in January when their children are expected to report to school.

"When the demands for school fees are made in January, the men now enjoying themselves will regain their senses but it will be too late for most of them. The money will be finished and they have to take out loans or call for fundraisers to educate their children," Mrs Koech says.

During a similar season two years ago, twilight girls hoodwinked men in the region by putting on school uniforms and pretending to be Form Four students from institutions outside the area.

They booked into local lodgings and went on to steal all the money from their clients who got drunk and blacked out in bed. The women disappeared never to be seen again. Left high and dry, the men were too ashamed to tell their friends or family members what had befallen them. Most made up to account for the lost money.

Old men and women staggering in the street bragging about their wealth after having one too many are a common sight during these seasons. Also common are lavish parties, weddings and circumcision ceremonies.