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obsession with "most expensive"
Rank: Elder Joined: 6/17/2008 Posts: 23,365 Location: Nairobi
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A friend's take about mido crass: Definition "rich" and "poor" in the Kenyan context. To me, a rich person is one who, while not in debt, can afford to lay aside Ksh.10 million in the bank without denying himself and family the needs and luxuries of life. Alternatively, a rich person is he/she who has disposable assets worth not less than Ksh. 10 million. A poor person is he/she who cannot afford the security needs of contemporary life (such as good food, proper shelter, proper medical care, education for children, etc) Everyone else is middle-class, with varying degrees of "poverty" - upper middle (very decent housing, very decent cars, international school for kids, good insurances, etc), middle middle (decent housing, Toyota, private school for kids, education and health policy for family) and lower middle (rental house, jalopy if any car, public school, no insurance apart from NHIF). ..."Wewe ni mtu mdogo sana....na mwenye amekuandika pia ni mtu mdogo sana!".
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 3/26/2012 Posts: 1,182
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sitaki.kujulikana wrote:Elder wrote:sitaki.kujulikana wrote:the middle class in kenya is obsessed with expensive products and services.
from - hospitals (child birth) What is exactly wrong in wanting to have the best medical care if you can afford it? And with a medical cover it is affordable for most people with stable income. , car servicing (the monroes and robs - If these (monroes and robs) provide specific solutions for Kenyan problems (roads) and are value for money then it would be pretty stupid for one who can afford it not to go for it. And it sounds wise for one to take his/her car for service to a mechanic/company that is competent and has good referral than to risk it on a cheaper alternative after sinking hundreds of thousands into buying a car), education (the academies) - When I was growing up I never did academies and stuff and turned out ok. However now things are very competitive and if you don't give your kids a good education then pray that you only give birth to geniuses. And good eduction will never be cheap. , shopping (the nakumatts) - first time I come across this gem that Nakumatt is expensive and shopping there is a sign of obsession with expensive products and services.
all these are way too expensive and the odd thing is that, there are relatively cheaper alternatives. According to you what are the relatively cheaper alternatives to the services you have detailed above?
these guys know this and price their products / services very high and are making a killing. I would understand if you accused people for paying over the odds but as I have tried to show above i) expensive is relative and ii) expensive does not necessarily mean lack of value for money. sorry, if I struck a wrong nerve, you are very right in your observations, if you can afford it go for the most expensive. after all you will get the best medical care, your car will be the most stable and will get the best service, your kids will turn out best and your shopping will always be without a hitch. @sitaki, That's where n how you get it wrong. You should go for the best quality and not the MOST expensive. Thinking expensive is tantamount to best quality is just plain gullible.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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mkonomtupu wrote:Gosh, kumbe i belong to the lower class i do not own a home i rent on the outskirts of nairobi i like the ambience and my rent is 15k yet my dividends from KCB can pay rent for whole year with cash to spare some of us are a God forsaken lot. We don't even qualify to be referred to as classy. Ruggedy it is.  @Sikujali, Your last paragraph is harsh. If you compare your life with others, 2 things will happen. 1.Feel superior 2.Feel inferior Then one comes up with false judgements. Whether we like it or not, there are people who will choose to spend on anything because it's their money. You cannot for instance stop the likes of Abramovich from building yachts like game. They got the cash and a whole Industry to cater for such people only! not everybody. Woe unto you if you try to do the same with your meagre income. My advice? stick to your league and never try to be what you are not. And you shall live happily thereafter. "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 9/7/2010 Posts: 2,148 Location: elderville
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mkeiyd wrote:sitaki.kujulikana wrote:Elder wrote:sitaki.kujulikana wrote:the middle class in kenya is obsessed with expensive products and services.
from - hospitals (child birth) What is exactly wrong in wanting to have the best medical care if you can afford it? And with a medical cover it is affordable for most people with stable income. , car servicing (the monroes and robs - If these (monroes and robs) provide specific solutions for Kenyan problems (roads) and are value for money then it would be pretty stupid for one who can afford it not to go for it. And it sounds wise for one to take his/her car for service to a mechanic/company that is competent and has good referral than to risk it on a cheaper alternative after sinking hundreds of thousands into buying a car), education (the academies) - When I was growing up I never did academies and stuff and turned out ok. However now things are very competitive and if you don't give your kids a good education then pray that you only give birth to geniuses. And good eduction will never be cheap. , shopping (the nakumatts) - first time I come across this gem that Nakumatt is expensive and shopping there is a sign of obsession with expensive products and services.
all these are way too expensive and the odd thing is that, there are relatively cheaper alternatives. According to you what are the relatively cheaper alternatives to the services you have detailed above?
these guys know this and price their products / services very high and are making a killing. I would understand if you accused people for paying over the odds but as I have tried to show above i) expensive is relative and ii) expensive does not necessarily mean lack of value for money. sorry, if I struck a wrong nerve, you are very right in your observations, if you can afford it go for the most expensive. after all you will get the best medical care, your car will be the most stable and will get the best service, your kids will turn out best and your shopping will always be without a hitch. @sitaki, That's where n how you get it wrong. You should go for the best quality and not the MOST expensive. Thinking expensive is tantamount to best quality is just plain gullible. Spot on @mkeiyd. It is one of the things I am trying to point out to @sitaki in respect of his first post. The other is that what might be expensive for one might not necessarily be expensive for another. And @sitaki people don't always do things to impress others at times or live above their means - they could just be going for what they want and can afford. At times I am attempted to think that those who drive those Audi Q7s and other high end cars are maybe wannabees, loan defaulters, drug dealers, tax evaders but I stop when I realise that I would run out of negative things to think about them before I run out of those high end cars. He who can express in words the ardour of his love, has but little love to express. - Petrach, Son. (That men by various ways arrive at the same end. - Montaigne, The Essays of.)
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Rank: Elder Joined: 6/2/2011 Posts: 4,824 Location: -1.2107, 36.8831
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jaggernaut wrote:essyk wrote:mawinder wrote:Define the kenyan middle class. roflol. Kenyan middle class make the loudest noise like people on this thread. They complain too much because they cannot afford the lifestyle of their upper class counterparts. Give us a range of classes in kenya and everyone shall know where they belong. Ok, let me try: 1. Upper class - Land barons, Business owners, industrialists etc e.g Kenyattas, Mois, Delameres, Chandarias, Kibakis, Michukis, Ndegwas etc live in own homes in Muthaiga, Karen, Runda, lavington in stand alone homes. Are employers. Do not need to work to survive. Buy top of range cars eg mercs, rangerovers, toyota VXs etc from show rooms. Kids attend international schools locally or abroad. 2. Middle class - are people who need to have job and earn a salary to survive. Can be categorised into 3 broad groups 2(a). Upper middle class - CEOs, top managers, top civil servants, parastatal chiefs etc. Live in company houses or own homes in runda, Muthaiga, lavington, Ridgeways etc. Most own homes or pay rent 150-250k. They do not live in apartments but rather stand alone homes. Biggest buyers of homes going for 30-40m in Karen etc. Also includes expatriates in top NGOs eg UN. Earn over 500k net pm. Most have graduate degrees plus MBAs. Some buy new cars but most buy top of range Mitumbas eg. used range rovers, mercs, VXs, Prados etc. Kids in top local private schools. 2 (b) Mid middle class - most middle level managers, most professionals eg doctors, accountants, engineers, IT, lecturers, lawyers etc. They earn below 300k net pm. Live in apartments (their own or rented) in Westlands,lavington, kileleshwa etc. since they cannot afford stand alone homes in those areas. Some own homes in areas such as South C, B, Syokimau, Buru, langata etc. Can afford homes worth upto 20m. Most pay rents of 40-100k pm. Most have undergraduate degrees. Drive 'newer' used mitumbas e.g. prados, Rav 4s, premios, Mark X, subarus etc depending on income. Kids in 'mid-cost' private schools. Very showy class that apes and pretends to be upper middle class. 2 (c) Lower middle class - ordinary professional employees who carry out day to day activities in companies, organisations, institutions eg. ordinary civil servants, junior bank employees/tellers, teachers. Many do not own homes and can only rent. Majority live in rented houses in eastlands, Rongai, Kitengela etc. Most earn below 150k and pay rents of 20-50k. May have Bachelors degrees, diplomas. Some drive old mitumbas. Kids may attend low cost private schools. 3. Lower class: have blue collar jobs e.g drivers, production line employees, junior clerks etc. Most live in eastlands, Kangemi, Kawangware, kayole etc or even in slums. Most earn below 50k net. Pay rents below 15k. They do not have degrees. Most do not drive. Kids in public schools. 4. Underclass - don't have formal employment eg mjengo guys, makangas, househelps, petty traders etc. Earn less than 20k pm. Most live in the slums and pay rents of 1-8k. Kids in public schools. U have described Nairobi and mombasa ONLY Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.” ― Rashi
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Rank: Elder Joined: 9/7/2010 Posts: 2,148 Location: elderville
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essyk wrote:Elder wrote:
In Kenya if you have yourself access to the internet and can post on Wazua you tend to call yourself middle class. Just peruse the posts here and see how people call themselves that, especially when comparing themselves to the 'non-middle class Kenyans' who are being 'lied' to by the politicians.
Eish!LOL Eti now having access to internet makes one a middle class? Ngai! Vanity! You never got the memo? It is not uncommon to find a random Wazuan dropping phrases like 'we the middle class' in reference to Wazuans. Add that to the fact that all you need to access and post in Wazua is an Internet connection... Now from @ jaggernaut description above, I seem to be trending towards the untouchables (the social system type).  He who can express in words the ardour of his love, has but little love to express. - Petrach, Son. (That men by various ways arrive at the same end. - Montaigne, The Essays of.)
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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Theres' Middle class,Meandering class and a Miaow class. argh whatever, mtu aishi kulingana na uwezo wake. "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/9/2008 Posts: 5,389
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@elder those are just my thoughts. I could be wrong. I think basically anyone who can afford not to live in the slums but on the hand can't afford to live in Muthaiga, Runda etc is middle class.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/2/2009 Posts: 2,458 Location: Nairobi
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jaggernaut wrote:@elder those are just my thoughts. I could be wrong. I think basically anyone who can afford not to live in the slums but on the hand can't afford to live in Muthaiga, Runda etc is middle class. Walalalalala..... from previous definitions, i didnt even need to read twice.. nimejiona pap!! kanyumba kakurent, outskirts za Jiji.... JALOPY! ....Jalopy? woishe my humble KA* is indeed a Jalopy im a spit away from category:poor? Yaani umaskini iko hapa na hapa na mimi..doesnt take much: just a single glance & i fall into category poor? lets do this... lets create a special class and lump the Ndegwas & Kenyattas there.. then we split Upperclass into upper and lower.. move current uppermid to upper class & create new group describing lower upper.. kisha everybody else remaining moves a step up.. Hivyo hata mimi nihepe 'one glance behind to poverty'. Maskini add them more groups eg Hohehahe, hobelahobela...chakari i know its late, but if we pass my motion above into bill; nobody will lynch us...
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Rank: Member Joined: 7/17/2011 Posts: 627 Location: Mbui-Nzau, Kikumbulyu
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kama mido crass are the recent 2NK boarded migrants acquiring funny cross transatlantic accents and just discovered the city plus astonished at how people are spending their money... washa ikae*. Its never ideal. People of all classes tend to over-do , over-spend or whatever you may call it, there are bars and clubs in some slums. Its just as irrational as someone scooping spilled fuel from an overturned tanker or anyone living next to a railway line least one day a train derails. As irrational as owning a Lamborghini where you can hardly drive one because of the roads. The irrationality is out there..It is human not just peculiarly Kenyan. As for some of the stratification criteria am seeing here....it just smacks bits of ignorance and a minimalist view of how one may perceive wealth versus being rich. So how will you classify a person living in donholm and owns 200 acres of wheat and barley farm in Uasin Ngishu (eldoret) with a combine harvester and a pickup but drives a toyota saloon when in Nairobi ? or one living in Ngumba and has 1000 plus heard of livestock in Marsabit but commutes to work. plus many other ordinary examples in places in and outside of Nairobi. What is strikingly peculiar though is that Kenyan habit having of trying to put someone in a box and labeling it( albeit wrongly most of the time) oooh he lives in runda he is rich oooh he drives a jalopy he is poor ..and so much more none sense like the way some ass kiss whites thinking they are superior or something like that. That is peculiarly Kenyan and something that be taken advantage for to good use by clever chaps. So just get on with life and let people spend their monies.
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