Hao ni nani?

I agree 101%.

Talk to any rich successful man. Most financially struggling people buy 'stuff' they do not need.

The dark side of saving.....

My late dad and a co-worker, George Oduor Onyango

Year: 1973
Employer: Ministry of Works.
Designation:
Dad...Clerical Officer Job Group E, salary kshs 480.00
Onyango...Ministry of Works, Mechanical Engineering technician Job Group J, salary kshs 950.00
Station: Nyahururu
Membership to a SACCO:
Dad: Ufundi SACCO, was contributing kshs 180.00
Onyango: None
Side Hustles:
Dad...None
Onyango: None
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Year: 1975
Station: Nyahururu
Side Hustles:
Dad: Leased 3 acres @ kshs 150.00 per acre per year in Kiandege area. Took a kshs 12,000.00 SACCO loan, bought 3 grown dairy cattle and constructed the sheds and barn.
Onyango: None, but was in good books with the DC, DO and the resident magistrate. The Jogoo Kimakia buses knew him for occasionally taking his family to Nairobi for a short holiday.
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Year: 1977
Station: Nyahururu
Salaries: Dad:kshs 560.00, Onyango: kshs 1100.00
SACCO contributions: Dad: kshs 350.00 Onyango: None.
Side hustles:
Dad: Crops growing, serious dairy farming
Onyango: None, but still in good books with the prominent senior civil servants, the Kimakia buses and some local pub (I cant remember the name) near the post office.
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Year: 1978
Station: Nyahururu
Onyango takes a bank loan (kshs 5000.00 if I remember very well) and buys a second hand grey peugeot 404 saloon.
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Year: 1980
station: Nyahururu
Side hustles:
Dad: Still doing mixed farming...had savings of kshs 68,000.00 from farming. Took a bank loan of kshs 100,000.00 and added the savings from farming and buys two eighths of an acre in Mathare North Nairobi following a tip off by his brother (who lived in Nairobi) on available plots. He informs Onyango about the plots.
Onyango: None
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Year: 1984
Dad posted to Nakuru on transfer.
Onyango posted to Nyeri.
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Year: 1986
Station: Nakuru
Side Hustle:
Dad...Farming, realtor, completed paying back the bank loan.
Station: Nyeri
Onyango...Not much is known about him, but regularly comes to Nakuru to visit dad.
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Year: 1990
station: Nakuru
Side hustle:
Dad: Farming and realty. He becomes too busy and absconds his clerical job, and was officially dismissed summarily from the civil service.
Station: Nyeri
Onyango: He had been promoted to Job Group K and a salary of kshs 4200.00. He still had the Peugeot 404.
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Year: 1993
Station: Nakuru/Nairobi.
Dad: In jua kali proper, and still doing serious farming and realty. With a savings of kshs 2,322,900.00, he takes a bank loan of kshs 5 million and begins to construct the first 3 floors of residential flats on the first plot in Mathare North which he bought in 1980.
Station: Nyeri
Onyango: Back in Nyeri, he is given a letter reminding him that his retirement is due in two years time. He dashes to Ufundi SACCO to register as a member and starts contributing kshs 1500.00
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Year: 1994
Station: Nakuru/Nairobi
Dad: Doing the construction and still doing the farming and realty,
Station: Nyeri
Onyango: Goes back to SACCO and reduces the contribution to kshs 500.00 as his salary could not sustain such contributions due to the originally acquired lifestyle.
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Year: 1995
Station: Nakuru/Nairobi
Dad: Finishes the construction and the flats are occupied almost immediately. He is still doing farming and realty.
Station: Nyeri
Onyango: retires from civil service, gets his kshs 60,000.00 (if I remember very well) lumpsome and a monthly pension of kshs 3,800.00.
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From 1995, things start getting interesting for one George Oduor Onyango, my dads closest friend...

Stay tuned folks and learn how the 2007/2008 political events became the turning point for Onyango on a long path dating back to 1968...