The Kenyan Man's Tripple Curse

Nairobi, 

Sunday, 16 February, 2025 

McCreadie Andias, 

At a random Nairobi street corner, you are likely to see three kinds of Kenyan men: the third one who is sadly looking at his phone as he is nervously checking a betting slip, the second one screaming a distant old Rhumba song weakly while stumbling out of club, the first one who you can imagine secretly text a woman who is not his wife. You’ll see all three curses afflicting the same unfortunate soul sometimes if you’re lucky.

This is the darkly comical reality of Kenyan masculinity where many men have themselves trapped in the vicious cycle of gambling, alcohol or women, often at the same time.

The last time Kevin was last in front of a camera was in Cairo nearly 33 years ago, as a 13-year-old tagalong with his dad. He applies his cologne five minutes before he gets there, pairs with different girlfriends more often than he changes his socks, and is cryptic wherever he goes.

He has three pending loans – taken to impress various women. Cynthia is his latest conquest and got him to take out an iPhone 15 Pro Max on credit. She then took off for a richer man with a Mercedes GLE three weeks later, leaving Kevin having to pay to have a phone that only makes him think about how stupid he was.

"As I’ve learned someone new, she thought she loved me," he lets out a sigh, before snapping back quicker, "That’s right." This one is different." 

For the ones like Kevin who represent thousands of Kenyan men who are drowning in the quest of love and no matter how much they want to proceed with it, they end up broke, heartbroken and back to the drawing board repeating the same depressive cycle with another naive target in mind.

Otieno’s face was the face of optimism. He knows with certainty that his next bet will alter his fate.

“I was almost winning KSh 1 million last week,” he holds his index fingers millimeters apart. It turned out in reality, he lost KSh 2,500 that day, money that was set aside for the school fees of his children.

His wife has not listened to his promises of ‘one last bet’ for quite some time. She has left threats behind and has now resigned to silent resignation; she watches him spend whole hours scrolling through betting sites with eyes bottled over false hope.

“I have a system now. He insists he just needs one good win. 

The multibillion-dollar betting industry in Kenya is a predator whose most loyal victims are men such as Otieno. They remain hooked because a promise of quick wealth is made, even if it means they are rapidly turning to financial ruin.

Njenga, 45, started drinking casually at 20. His liver is today an overworked civil servant on the verge of resignation. For instance he operates a small electronics shop in Thika and nets profits which end up in a brown bottle.

"I only drinks on weekends" He lies. It is a Tuesday afternoon while he's sunk on Monday's hangovers.

To this day 'CEO wa muguka na keg' is the title of his friends for him and he wears it with pride. In fact, the local bar has even reserved his favorite stool.

Five years ago, his wife left him with the kids. His unreliable service causes his customers to complain, his suppliers to pester him about payment that he keeps 'forgetting' to make.

Njenga insists he’s fine even if he’s clear self-destruction. Then he slurs: “I can stop anytime I want,” and orders another.

THE VICIOUS CYCLE

The reason that these three addictions are so intertwined is their self reinforcing nature. After he is dumped, Kevin turns to alcohol for consolation. Responsible drunk as he is, he places reckless bets which he tells himself he will recover the money he wasted on Cynthia.

After another bet lost, Otieno drowns his sorrows in keg. Even one of them, broke from gambling and having many women, drinks in order to forget his troubles. And the cycle continues.

Meanwhile, as the Kenyan economy, the rate of inflation and rates of unemployment exist, men will still find these vices irresistible coping mechanisms for those struggling.

THE WAY OUT?

The fact of the matter is that to escape this trap, you need to do something drastic, something you would have never even considered before. 

It goes a long way toward financial literacy, self discipline, and therapy (yes, therapy). Until men determine that a short term pleasure has little worth over a long term stability, the wickedness of women to gamble, to drink , will continue to take victims.

For now, if you catch a man desperately trying to focus, steeped in eyes between some betting slip and a just skimmed text from ‘Bae ,’ then know: he is battling things you’ll never begin to comprehend.