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Taita-Taveta: Where gemstone barons blow noses with Sh1,000 notes

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 Voi town. Photo: Courtesy

Taita-Taveta County could be largely semi-arid with a relatively rustic lifestyle, but never short of sideshows, courtesy of the Sh20 billion mining industry and the shenanigans of its overnight millionaires.

A case in point is that of a miner in Voi town who had made so much money he saw it fit to order chicken stew with plates meant for customers, but fed his dog instead. When the owner complained, the dog lover promptly paid for the food and plates and gave a generous tip to the waiters for good measure.

In fact, a lifestyle audit of those who mine precious stones might sound more or less like a tragicomedy of bizarre proportions. The industry, which requires the patience of the biblical Job, has seen some strike millions only for them to get overly excited and in the process, treat residents to a theatre of the absurd.

Take the lucky gemstone ‘hustlers’ who struck it big time and went to Mwatate town, about 26 kilometres south-west of Voi, where together with other friends, ordered a crate of soda, poured the soft drink in a basin and bathed in it!

Jimmy Kadima, a gemstone dealer at Kuranze in Mwatate, says most gemstone dealers suffer a lot of frustrations in pursuit of riches from the mines. So, when they hit pay dirt make good money, they go overboard and waste most of it on debauchery. “Sometimes one can get gemstones worth up to Sh10 million at once,” explains Jimmy. “For a person who has never handled such kind of money, this can drive him crazy and push him to engage in wasteful spending only to end up in the trenches later.”

Many who strike it rich take their excesses to bars. Fridah, a bar attendant, has seen many miners waste their money in foolish indulgences.

She told The Nairobian that, “Some four gemstone hustlers, locally known as zururas, were going on about their activities, hoping to get some gemstones to sell and earn their daily bread, only for lady luck to turn more generous than they thought. They landed on consecutive pockets of green garnets, which by rough estimates could have fetched over Sh5 million.”

Besides reckless spending, there also that not-so-small-matter of a fool and his money parting company courtesy of the age-old twin catalysts - women and alcohol. Again, when you make easy money by the truckload, you would be least bothered with things like sexually transmitted infections, right?

This was the thinking in the case of one miner who owned a bar in Voi town and who fished hookers from Mombasa and transported them to Voi, 156 kilometers away. He brought them to his nightclub where patrons were treated to live sex shows with those who could stand the spectacle getting crates of free booze.

The same nightclub owner would blow his nose with Sh1, 000 bank notes which he would throw to the ground for his barmaids to pick and use?

Fridah remembers one gemstone ‘baron’ at who bought his friend crates of beer piled on top of each other up to his height. Call it the height of arrogance! “The dealer’s friend had politely asked for a drink, but was surprised when the rich fellow told him to stand upright, which he did. The chap was shocked when the dealer ordered him to be given stacks of beer as high as himself. The confused guy had to hire a taxi to ferry the drinks home,” reveals Fridah.

On a sober note however, the mining industry in Taita-Taveta has been a source of employment to hundreds of locals who live around gemstone-rich areas, which are arid and semi-arid and therefore unfit for agriculture and livestock keeping.

When these overnight millionaires go broke, it is not uncommon to spot them in Voi town sporting akala tyre sandals smoking cheap cigarettes.

 

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