The village Casanova

By Anthony Ngatia

The love of money, the saying goes, is the source of all evil.

Whoever coined the saying must have had the village male shopkeeper in mind. In the village, where poverty is acute in many homes, the shopkeeper enjoys celebrity status.

He attracts women like a honey pot attracts bees. He is the centre of attraction for women, both single and married.

"I endured five long years of sadness believing that I had the killer disease until I came to Kibera where I went for a test at a VCT," Odhiambo says.

Upon inquiry, he had established that the girl had in indeed slept with Ochieng. Few women he targeted got away.

Some shopkeepers end up paying the price for their philandering ways.

Ochieng Malo Malo was once caught red-handed frolicking with the wife of a local boda boda operator.

Seething with anger, the cuckold summoned his fellow motorbike riders and within 30 minutes, the entire shop had been razed to the ground.

Deadly virus

But for the local chief, Ochieng Malo Malo might have been killed. He was excommunicated from Siaya, but not without a dose of crude discipline. He was stripped naked and taken round the sleepy shopping centre.

Ochieng has not been seen in Siaya since. It is rumoured he got saved and was once seen somewhere in Kibera.

At Lirhembe shopping centre in Kakamega, Makokha was once the proud proprietor of Mulembe General Shop. He stocked groceries and bicycle parts, which are in high demand in that area.

Long before Equity Bank arrived on the scene with microfinance, Makokha was already ahead giving credit to villagers — especially women, either in groups or as individuals.

The small loan came as a relief to the poor villagers who spent the money to finance funerals, buy stationery for children or even for financing a rendezvous with a lover.

For his financial prowess, Makhokha had more to choose from. All manner of women were eager to be noticed by Makhoha.

Some excited men, having been advanced credit, would even send their daughters with goodies like local brew, a chicken or maize to take to Makokha.

And being a wise man who knew how to reap where he had sown, he never wasted any chances. He would prey on such girls without fear. He changed women like clothes.

But the good book of God says: "…and the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." Makokha’s luck was running out.

One day, he was suddenly taken ill and rushed to the nearby dispensary. He had a bout of diarrhoea that seemed unstoppable for a week.

When, out of curiosity, the doctor decided to run a test, the stud was found to have contracted HIV/Aids.

Gloom hung over the sleepy Lirhembe village centre as the chain of women who had passed by his shop started wondering if they too might have contracted the deadly virus.

Long after he had been buried, several women started being sickly. All trace their predicament to one famed shopkeeper.