Dan Okwiri
Penningmy journal. Many folks floss a ritzy life, whizzing in high end plum jam, with a short shelf life. The truth though is they are miserable as the grey of storm. Will spew you a true life story of one monied roads tenderpreneur whose fortune turned south.
There’s a lady buddy of mine, let’s call her Atieno to conceal her identity. Her dad was middle class, & they domiciled in Ngara in the 70s’, then largely a quaint Asian suburbia.
She had unblemished silky chocolate black complexion & wadding in hip & boot for loot. Atieno bloomed into a tall pretty lassie, soon no sane man could ignore her bootsy beauteous. Her dad spent most of his idle time battling straying & spraying eyes salivating her luscious sweets.
Atieno was intelligent in school in her salad days her beauty prey for the boys. In 4th Form, someone shot goal & she knotted ball. Despite it all she passed exams sterlingly well, and would give birth 4 months later to bouncing girl.
With a new load, she opted out of school to her father’s chagrin. Beauty is a woman’s gold, behold she couldn’t well be ignored. Atieno clinched a job in an uppity mega hardware store, and discovered her gem was in sales.
Her baby daddy who had abandoned her, soon returned in lovey dove & tied marital knot. After all she now had a well paying job. Atieno sharp & witty, quickly scaled the professional ladder, glinting in sales commissions. To pull customers in, she dressed snazzy, wooing clients to everyone’s jazzy.
With 5 years she added to her brood, again she fruited another baby girl. Her hubby didn’t cheese to the children, he wanted a boy. Their home deteriorating to a war zone.
Atieno was minting more quid than her hubby, & he began to feel inadequate. He often slept out with side shows, perhaps to pimped his deflated ego & after all he had no bills to pay, courtesy of Atieno.
The tensions built and 10 years later into their marriage she threw in the towel. They had an acrimonious spate in hate & went through a rancorous banana split in pit.
Out of the blue funk one morning, lady fortune knocked Atieno’s door with a lollipop. Blessing ropes in through people, came in a paunchy light skinned short bloke in his early 40s” known as Kamau. He was a jolly chap with heavy Kikuyu lilt. He straddled around the huge store drooling at everything in sight.
Kamau was instantly drawn to this urbane bootsy lady. Overcome by her, he began blushing & stammering in coy.
Babbling his wealth to daisy her, said to her he had 5 acre piece of land in uppity suburb of Karen that needed tiles, furniture & fittings for his mega palatial residence.
Atieno costed his order & it came up to an incredulous Kes 19 million. This would rake her a commission of Kes 570,000, an eye popping commission from her boss in the hardware store.
A thought tinkered in her brain, she had felt the electricity the bloke had for her. She suggested, there was another way he could get the stuff cheaper & asked to meet him privately in the evening.
They met that Friday evening in a quaint restaurant in leafy riverside suburb of Nairobi. A man frugal with coins, this ornately posh restaurant wasn’t familiar territory. It had a heavy oak ceiling & pedantic lights dangling in tinker. The mosaic ladened wall added its sparkle. This was certainly a lady of class, for how would she know such haunts?
Atieno wore a satin English Rose Purple Satin evening gown in mini, glinting gold speckled silver 6 inch stilettos and scented herself in jasmine. After all, she needed to show off her luscious lakeside Kentucky drumstick legs.
Kamau gaped in lust, this was meant to be a business meet. A shrewd schemer, she let the cat out of bag as they dined. Show me the money oh-ho-ho, Atieno unleashed to him that she could go to China on his behalf & the lot would cost him Kes 16 million, a saving of Kes 3 million.
Overtime she had acquired the Chinese contacts where her Asian boss got his supplies. She had done her homework & knew she could get all the stuff Kes. 12 million.
Kamau business savvy pondered, a saving of Kes 3 million was no easy nickel for pickle. Was this broad beam sweet making a fast one? But again she had mentioned to him that she worked at the hardware store for 10 years. That’s a sure moon of stability.
A risk taker, he told himself, why not? He blurted to Atieno he would give it a go in row but if she pulled a fast one he would snuff out in perdition. Sign the dotted line, to cushion risk they would write an agreement.
Strange bed fellows, Kamau tried to bed her that Friday, but she held him back with a smack. You never play you ace card in a jiffy. She had to keep him curious & in lust & did not part with her precious goods just yet.
Two weeks later Atieno was all jet set on First Class, all expenses paid KQ flight to China courtesy Kamau. It was the year 2004, Wuod Baba then KQ cargo manager happened to be on the same flight off to China to visit cargo agents on sales incentives.
As fate would have it, I happened to sit next to Atieno & lit a lifelong friendship that kindles till today. She wagged in puppy tail, and cheesed me mellow in wine how lady fortune smiled. I need not say more, then a young foppish executive washing in jet style, did breeze Atieno off her feet in sweet in our first meet. We blissed a great week, wine in reek bobbing Guangzhou in hippy hoppy. Atieno potting in gold bought me fancy suits & shoes, for giving her a jolly good time.
Straight as an arrow she bought Kamau stuff as agreed, the suppliers were smitten by her charm in chime. A tougher negotiator she bought the lot at Kes 11.5 million & saved a further Kes 500,000. The journey a godsend, would bag her a clean Kes 4,5 million in clean profit.
Kamau gleamed with joy on receiving his stuff. Atieno had exquisite taste, she did not waste her fortune, for she didn’t need misfortune. Lady fortune might not knock again. With her new fortune Atieno bought a lovely 3 bedroom apartment in Kilimani.
She used the extra Kes 500,000 savings from her further negotiations to buy herself snazzy furniture & fittings for her apartment in anticipation. Her children Hawi & Abiero would each have a room of their very own.
Kamau started to chase her incessantly, he wanted more than a piece of her. Twice bitten she was reluctant & he wasn’t her make of fudge cake. His money though was tempting honey.
Atieno wanted him to peel his story, curious to know where did he mine his brimming buck in truck?
They met Fridays in fancy eateries, being an urban girl she wanted to upscale frugal Kamau to her Luo dainty, after all he had to live a life that befitted his deep pocket.
Pillow talk, slowly he began to trust her and windowed his life in pipe. He pulled the rabbit from the hat, Kamau was a road contractor, & got mega government tenders from the Ministry of Roads. His business was almost 90% dependent on the government. His wifey, Mrs Kamau was a procurement officer in the Ministry of Roads. She gave her hubby the mega minty tenders. She was the handle who rocked his cradle, without her, he was zilch. Overtime the couple had made hundreds of millions and were living dream life.
Rich as Croesus, the couple had jointly bought 5 acres in leafy Karen @ Kes 60 million an acre. The land total cost Kes 300 million & house construction & fittings budget was Kes 50 million. Over the next 3 years Kamau & Atieno had relationship. Playing second fiddle was fine, Atieno didn’t love him but it was convenient. To sweeten the pot he paid her bills, bought her a swanky BMW, it was all good tidings as she played the field.
A case of the pot calling kettle black, increasing Kamau began to vent that his wife had lost interest in him. Suspicious he had hired a private investigator & established that she indeed was having an affair with their handsome athletic Bukusu family driver. They were always together, in shopping sprees. What hurt him more is that she bought him an apartment in Parklands for Kes 10 million as their love nest.
Pitched battle, their relationship became stormy & salt to injury, their paunchy spoilt miscreant kids sided with their mommy who controlled the purse strings. Home became a living nightmare, he saw no beauty in his palace.
He filed for divorce, it was messy as the court was taking ages to make a decision. The construction firm wasn’t doing well either. His wife had blocked him from getting road tenders. Payment for work done became an added problem. The interest on overdraft piling mounted his debts.
Pie in the sky, Kamau finally moved house, into Atieno’s house. He slept in the living room coach, as her kids were hostile to him. Pit stop, it all became too much & he moved out from Atieno’s house too!
To take the cake over the years Atieno had slowly made her way up in business ladder. She had used the money she got from Kamau over the years pretty well. Had quit her job and started going to China, bringing hardware in bulk by container. Atieno knew her former employer’s clientele & offered them better prices. Life was peach & soon she was the new beach kid in the block. A quantum leap, Atieno upscaled herself & moved to the plush suburb of Westlands.
A sad sack in lack, Kamau unfortunately became a pale shadow of himself. Shot to hell by auctioneers he lost it all. Today living a lonely life hand to mouth. Hang dry, sure taken to the cleaners. After 2022 when Raila lost elections, their mistrust peaked to an all time high, their relationship came to a total halt in default. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Pink slip, Atieno today is to busy to meet him for she has moved on leaving him on skid row, & soon on death row. She cheesed to me she had recently acquired a beach apartment in Diani south coast. Sitting pretty she has beachy place in the sun.
Now in early 50s’, she recently bought land in Migori County & building her retirement home. She thinking of retiring at 60 years, her children grown, flown nest.
Riding off into her sunset Wuod Baba wondered why she is putting up a 4 bed roomed house in the countryside. What the heck, to shoot the bull, she’s wadding in cash and transforming Migori’s skyline. She’s back home and the show must go on!
Have you heard the song “Mamma Mia!…. here we go again”.
**True life story, characters changed to protect identity**
#okwirimy journal, my thoughts, my walk.
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