Women who stalk the famous

By Billy Muiruri

There is a much-publicized competition or tournament in town and lots of prizes to go with it. The media blitz captures the attention of viewers, and people run home early to catch the action on television.

It is a phenomenal competition that attracts the who- s- who in the teenage and post-teenage age groups, with events of the previous night forming debates on “who was smarter” in work places the following day.

Often, you find there are male contenders and at the end of it all, a gentleman walks away with the grand prize.

Other times, it is corporate organisations running massive promotions just to pull crowds towards a certain product or service. And guess what is in the prizes list? Brand new cars, modern houses, and millions in cash awards.

Recently, we had the World Cup, and, of course, there were all those fine players whose teams women actually support d because the players looked handsome, sexy.

These were the players who had the most media hype. We even had women falling for these players regardless of the distance. It could also be in athletics or any other sport where a hardworking man strikes a gold medal and the whole country’s attention is focused on him.

There are also those musicians who strike it rich with a popular hit. The album quickly rises to the top of music charts, earns awards, both locally and regionally, and earns quality airtime on several FM stations. Within weeks, rumours do the rounds that the lucky guy is swimming in millions.

As he is enjoying the publicity, he earns a corporate endorsement to be the face of a certain known and fast selling product.

More recently, we had campaigns for the referendum on the proposed constitution. Now, as it happens in any well-oiled campaign, there are the leading lights, the people who call the shots, the people who control budgets or those who are believed to be custodians of cash flows.

Mostly it is men.

All these scenarios present a man who is hogging the limelight of the moment —The publicity, the cash, the changed fortunes.

A major characteristic that will inevitably go with this new status is the number of women who will actively try to be associated with the man on the spotlight.

They hover around the “celebrity” and will make sure those who care to listen know they are “very close” to the new kid on the block.

“I had a rough time trying to shake off new female admirers. Some were on my neck calling me ceaselessly until I had a problem with my girlfriend,” says one of the contenders of Tusker Project Fame.

“Some of the women even volunteered to be part of the music video production. But the more I received such offers, the more I realised it was not just about business,” says the budding musician.

When Kelvin (name changed) won a brand new car in a raffle some years ago, he suddenly found new girl friends ready to assist him “with investment ideas”.

“I received all manner of ‘suggestions’. One of them even came with a business proposal on how to invest and volunteered to manage the business ‘we’ would start,” he says.

Two more joined them when word went round that the value of the car would be converted into cash and he would receive the cash in a fortnight.

“I have never seen “more patient friends”.

“I had known them for a while as I worked in Nakuru but I suspected they wanted to cash on my fortunes and I melted away. I changed my mobile phone number and moved to Nairobi,” says Kelvin.

A strategist at one of the referendum campaign secretariats tells of “a horde” of very charismatic, urbane women who shuffle from one secretariat to another trying to establish “working relationships” with those running the secretariats.

“Some of these women see political party secretariats as avenues to make quick bucks while others target officials who work there for love liaisons. It is a trend you will see in any campaign secretariat,” he says.

Due to the spying that goes on in rival secretariats, the clever women stick to one base where they place themselves strategically and offer to help “coordinators from upcountry” or political activists get favours from top officials of the secretariat.

“They actually have no specific roles to play but they come in everyday until in the end, you will believe that they actually work there. Some try to cut deals or broker some supply business. Normally, you will find they are known to one or two senior officials,” says the political strategist.

The perception among many people is that there’s a lot of money flying about once a secretariat has been set up.

Some of these women are lethal and will pester or even blackmail (after some personal interaction) some officials to give them supply tenders.

“Some orders for election materials or services are given under duress and often remain unpaid eventually. I can tell you prices are usually exaggerated or non-existent, at worse,” says the strategist who has been a victim of these women.

He was one of the think tanks in the campaigns of one of the top presidential contenders in 2007.

“Some of the people who supplied merchandise for the 2007 election have not been paid to-date,” he adds.

And this is not restricted to political campaigns. A human rights activist talks of “many of these women” since the post-election violence. 

“We have had several peace campaigns, resettlement programmes and transitional justice activities. They come in as “volunteers” but by the end of the whole thing, their aim is to come out with money or some other favours from the bigwigs,” she says.

A local athlete who won gold at the last Olympics championships had to increase the number of his security officers to ward off “unwanted visitors” both at social or official functions.

He told Saturday Magazine on telephone. “I have a policy on how to deal with women who are out for cosmetic association. I have a very good instinct on how to identify them and handle them,” he said.

Spource: Daily Nation