Falling for a money sponge

By Edwin Makiche

When Dorothy, a young lawyer in Nairobi, met Mark, a young man from Southern Sudan, it was a case of love at first sight.

He was not only composed and handsome, but also seemed intelligent and focused. He claimed to be a programmes officer with the UN.

He had been injured while serving in Sudan, he said, and was being treated at a Nairobi hospital. He said he had no family or close relatives, having lost them during the war in his country.

It was true that thieves had raided the shop at night but eyewitnesses said that the shelves were as good as empty at the time. Everyone knew how the man had been living it up.

Kemunto, who had to shoulder the burden of repaying the loan, could stand him no more.

I told him to pack and leave,’’ she says.

Catherine, a student at the University of Nairobi, has a good reason to believe that her boyfriend is a gold digger. Though he understands that she is also a student, he has never even pretended to foot the bills. He is perpetually broke, always borrowing ‘soft loans’ from her claiming that he is expecting a large sum of money from uncles and cousins working abroad.

When the debt is due, he comes up with new story such as that his ATM card got jammed or that the Western Union money transfer system is down.

Campus friend

The man also makes surprise appearances during mealtimes claiming to have forgotten something.

"I have been waiting for him to reform for the last six months and now I feel that I might be dating the wrong person,’’ she says.

Lorna, a student at the same university, says she also once dated such a man. She considered herself lucky for hooking an attractive man.

She was the envy of her friends. But the man turned out to be perpetually broke. Every time they went out in the company of his friends, Lorna had to pay the bills.

They would order for food and drinks, but when the bill came, the man would walk out pretending to be taking a call.

The man claimed to own a number of businesses in the city and had several ATM cards, but he had no money on him.

She finally kicked him out after he borrowed money from her saying that his ‘cheque’ had not matured and failed to repay.

"It was my college fees and I almost missed the examination,’’ she says.

Such experiences are not confined to relationships. I had a friend in campus who had a similar habit. He never bothered to book a room claiming that he was too busy to queue for a receipt.

Instead he would spend the semester moving from one friend’s room to another. For this he was nicknamed ‘Pirate’.

He was an engaging storyteller and had a way of convincing people that he had big plans. At one time, he solicited money from us claiming that he had bought a photocopying machine and that all he lacked was capital to start a business.

We gave him the money he wanted only to find out later that he had used it to settle another debt. Another time he came with shocking news that his mother had died and that he had no fare to travel to his home in Western Kenya. We organised a mini fundraiser only to realise later that he had used the money to buy a phone.

Mutua, a media practitioner, works with someone with similar habits. This person always joins him at his table during lunchtime.

They chat while eating but when the bill comes, the fellow asks him to pay claiming that he has a ‘big’ note and would pay back his share once they get back to the office.

Mutua was shocked to discover that the man had told the same story to many other people.