Cases of secret lovers busted having illicit sex in cars, offices or bushes are common. One of the reasons for this is that having an affair is an expensive endeavour.
While Kenyans are busy building the nation during the day, there is always bunch of randy types who, in response to President Uhuru’s rallying call for a working nation, are sweating it out in lodgings, imbibing illicit love at great financial cost.
They may say love is free, but making love costs an arm and a leg, especially if you are a man and the affair is illicit. No wonder, we have discovered, infidelity is the fastest growing business in town.
Clyde Angira, an accountant with an audit firm, says the ‘infidelity industry’ thrives countrywide and “the biggest beneficiaries are hotels, bar and restaurant owners, and taxi drivers.”
A manager at a hotel in Nairobi’s Hurligham estate says business was so good, she stopped charging hotel rooms per day, but instead charges per hour.
“My clients don’t stay the whole night. These are married men and women who want to go back to their offices or homes. I even have repeat clients who call to book in advance. It makes me mad when I have to turn some away because rooms are fully booked,” she says.
Her ‘hotel’ has 14 rooms and she charges Sh1,500 per hour. On a bad day, when she has only four clients per room, she goes home with Sh84,000. Little wonder she is now building a bigger hotel in Mlolongo, Machakos County.
“Most men have huge egos. They will pay for two hours ‘knowing’ they will be busy for every minute of the two hours, but only stay for forty minutes or so. Of course, they would never ask for a refund because they are embarrassed! My assistants quickly change the sheets and another man gets the room,” she says.
So high is the demand for rooms that on Friday nights, and nearly the whole of Saturday, especially at the end of the month, a client can visit up to five guesthouses without finding space. Fully booked.
But getting a woman to that room for a five-minute romp is merely the culmination of a series of expenditure. If he is lucky, she could be a simple girl who won’t object to a meal at ‘a quiet place’ where the man is sure not to bump into his wife’s friends or a familiar face.
This means it has to be in the outskirts of the city. A meal at such place, say chicken stew and ugali, will cost between Sh300-500 per plate. The food will be washed down with fresh juice or soda bringing the bill to about Sh1,500.
Many couples, however, feel shy about ducking into a hotel room while sober, so the two will enjoy a few bottles of their favourite alcoholic beverage, hammering a further Sh2,000 dent in the man’s wallet.
Added to the cost of paying for a two-hour session at the hotel, the man will, therefore, spend a minimum of Sh5,000 for a few minutes of illicit love, assuming he doesn’t slip her Sh1,000 for ‘bus fare’.