A City Hall employee having a modest income of Sh55,000 has reportedly amassed a fortune of Sh600 million in a couple of years, and anti-graft agents are suspicious that these are proceeds of graft.
Consequently, they have moved to freeze the assets in cash and bank accounts, land, and motor vehicles. And they are pushing for the forfeiture of the assets if the man is unable to account for his wealth.
The sleuths have been on the case since 2016, which is seven years ago, and monitored the man's growing assets against a fixed income of Sh55,000. I have no doubt that the man will be able to explain his astronomically high wealth, for he has a lot of examples to draw from.
First off, farming is a solid, time-tested avenue to create wealth. Watermelon is an obvious choice as each fruit fetches a good price. If one farms tens of acres of melon all the year round, it's possible to make a tidy amount, at least on paper.
The other thing is to be consistent. If he says melon farming is his mainstay, then he has stick with melon even when he comes across other potentially lucrative ventures. He must remember one cannot uproot crops, even on paper, before they mature.
The final piece of advice is that he must secure a good lawyer. "Good" is relative; you want a chap who is media savvy, but quiet enough to retreat and read in preparation for his defence. That's a difficult combination, but one must try.
For once someone commits to utilise what's not legally theirs, they must be ready to defend their freedom when authorities seek to deprive them of their freedom. For what's free for the rest of us becomes the most expensive for those who take liberties with public funds.