Is this the side of Nyeri County that I always hear about but have never really seen first-hand, of young men too drunk most of the time to do anything meaningful with their lives? This story shall have to end rather abruptly because I have no conclusions and I am at a loss because an inheritance of the amount that he received would indicate that this is not your normal story of someone from a poor family being jobless and therefore unable to fend for himself and thus being reduced to a life of perennial drinking and partying.
Recently a man hobbling on crutches walks into my office. He looks to be in pain and do I detect a whiff of alcohol? You see I operate an open door policy (even if the physical door remains closed) where anyone, client or colleague, can walk in without an appointment and so long as I am not busy on something else.
As is my custom I welcome him into my office and he sits down. Now the smell of alcohol is undeniable and hangs heavily in the air. I suspect that this is another sob story to the Bank Manager and I can bet a million bob I will not be disappointed. So he starts off rather hesitantly about how he has recently had an accident with his vehicle and now the car requires to be fixed so that he may sell it, the quotation for which is a princely sum of Kshs. 125,000.00. He is expecting some money from another bank being his share of his late father’s estate and does not have the money in his account at present but would like a loan that we can then recover when the estate proceeds come in ‘soon’!
The guys is obviously inebriated, actually plastered would be a more apt description, despite it being only 1.00 pm in the afternoon and is repeating the same story in a different version trying to get me to see his side of the story. I tell him that I require to see evidence relating to the purported transfer of money to his account with us which after some fumbling and mumbling he claims to have understood. I then ask him in Kiswahili if he has understood me, “Umenielewa” to which he belligerently responds “Sijalewa” (I am not drunk)!! It takes a lot of my considerable will power for me not to burst out laughing because he is either hard of hearing or is hearing his own things but like the serious sot that he clearly is, he is denying his drunkenness even when he has not been asked the question!
Before I continue, let me retract a little and put this story into perspective as I found out after he had left the office on his merry way Kshs. 500.00 bob richer thanks to a loan to him.
The father passed away recently and was a businessman of considerable repute in town owning various businesses and properties. His assets were distributed by the administrators of his estate and the visitor to my office had inherited some good money in cash as well as the accident prone vehicle which he now needed to repair. It was probably just sheer luck that had kept him alive after the accidents as shall become clear shortly. God after all supposedly takes care of drunkards and children!
Immediately the inheritance was transferred to his recently opened account with the bank he started on a spree of heavy drinking and partying and wasteful spending if his current state was anything to go by. This ensured that a small fortune of over Kshs. 2 Million in cash was no more a few short months later. Daily cash withdrawals either at the ATM or at the bank counters while accompanied by a group of 2 or 3 henchmen no doubt out to share in the spoils was the order of the day and with no credits to the account this tap had to eventually run dry. Probably abandoned by his friends now that he is penniless he appears desperate to resume some semblance of a respectable life style and with no apparent income sources had visited the bank on a mission to spin me a yarn and convince me about some money coming to him as a further inheritance that I suspect is just a tale as tall as Aesop’s fables!
I was having none of his story which was disjointed and clumsy in any case and interspersed with tirades against other family members in successful businesses nearby and bitter denunciations about them all pointing to a rather troubled man. As I had figured out all along he changed tact and cut to the chase and openly asked me to lend him some money with promises of repaying me ‘soon’ which I parted with glad to get rid of him from my office which was now literally foggy with alcoholic fumes!!
As I sent him on his way with a Kshs. 500.00 loan (which I am sure I shall never see) and profuse expressions of gratitude from him I couldn’t help but feel sorry and wonder what had led to this troubled man being where he was. Was it a lack of financial discipline as he was growing up? Did he have a very disadvantaged upbringing? Or was he just a careless person?
Tafakari hayo!!
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