I actually bore this idea out of a discourse I had with two of my colleagues in the office about what went down in Masaku in connection to the so called middle class people. None of us attended the event but like everybody else, we had as much information as those who attended. Social media is very good with this kind of news. Ogling came free for lads in attendance, a good number of the ladies decided to give men good fodder for the eye and outdo each other in dressing scantly or rather not dressing. NACADA chairman drew a comparison between what happened in Machakos to Sodom and Gomorrah story in the bible. Media personality Ciku Muiruri asked, what is there to flaunt about making out in the bushes or in a car’s boot! Well that’s middle class for you, with lots of baggage and so much to prove.
According to African Development Bank, Kenya middle class stands at about 6.48 million, the fourth largest in Sub Saharan Africa. The bank calculates the size of the middle class based on the number of people earning more than $2 a day and less than $10 (Sh870). This measure defines the middle class in relative terms: those who are not poor and not vastly wealthy given the average income in their country. They are also well educated, informed and techonology savvy. You would shudder to imagine these are the same people who turn the moral compass upside down.
Sensational and overzealousness best describes them, they ride and swim over it. You will spot a dude with a blue tooth enabled device pegged on his ear, a smartphone on the left hand while the right one does the driving, an I pad placed on the lap, an alcohol can beside his driving sit, a cigar between the lips in a car with deafening music. They will attend Rhino Charge somewhere along the terrains of Samburu, the following weekend they will be in Lewa Marathon on a Saturday morning, not to run but to mingle and later fly for Masaku Sevens not to miss the theatrics of underage kids or campus divas imbibing without control. Next time they will drive in droves to catch up with the KCB Rally circuit in Nanyuki and later drive half sober to ‘NaxVegas’ to savour fun in a town that encapsulates it too well.
They believe in faking till you make it, from padded hips, customized weaves and ‘decent bleaching’ for both men and women. In fact someone joked its hard to recognize your ex nowadays since everybody is bleaching. They do not wait for weekends, indoor events are the in- thing, and shisha is served in cakes laced with it or better still they will make the ambience smoky. One of their new problems is taking ‘groundies’, we must have done it in our childhood only that we did not have smartphones!
All sums perhaps towards chasing the elusive happiness! I can bet the class below middle class is more happy. Am tempted to imagine Dave Ramsey had this people in mind when he said;“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” Someone also said, its poor parenting at 16 years that produces a ratchet at 17. If we are not the Sodom and Gomorrah that Mututho talked about, then we are headed there.
