Are Our Relatives Becoming So Entitled To The Money That We Do Not Even Have?

I have seen videos of young people bashing their relatives during funerals for neglecting them in terms of financial support, job opportunities, and shelter. We have praised the young people as brave and tough when they say those things, but I beg to differ.

It is not written anywhere that you have to help your relatives educate their children, pay maternity bills, food, and other things, just because you share blood. This is called Black Tax, which is draining millions of Kenyan families. You end up focusing on others at your expense.

Some of my cousins, for instance, took to a family WhatsApp group and accused me and others of having money but not being willing to help them feed their families and pay school fees for kids that they themselves gave birth to. And they were bitter and angry.

Many relatives, especially those in the villages, live under the assumption that as long as you are in Nairobi, you must have money, and that somehow, that money should be theirs too. They fail to notice that in most cases, they are living better lives than you.

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In Nairobi, millions of us are living a lie. We have cars, but we are broke. I may be driving a BMW, but with just Ksh 100 between me and poverty. But when someone sees me behind the wheel, they automatically conclude that I am stinking rich. When in reality, I am as broke as a church mouse.

We live in a good rented apartment because we have decided to work for the landlord. Daily, you are worried when your rent will be due. We take our kids to some private schools just to fit in, but every term, we negotiate with the school management to pay school fees in installments. Not that we are rich.

The majority of us who claim to be middle-class aren’t. We just put ourselves there to fit in. But we are poor. We are only putting on a show. Hatuna pesa. We are as poor as anyone else. But those who charge us Black Tax do not understand that. They think we have money, and they should have it.

A relative somehow impregnates his wife, and for 9 months, he has nothing. On the last day, he calls you frantically asking for money to pay the hospital bill, as he miraculously discovered, on that day, same as you, that his wife was due. When you say you do not have money, you are branded as mean, selfish, and terrible.

I may be ranting, but we are all struggling. I earn 50,000, which cannot even feed my family. Why would you think that I will get “20,000 urgently” for your wife? School fees for my kids inanikula kichwa, what makes you think I must pay for your kids?

Let me know your views.

Read Also: How Can You Beat The Proverbial Black Tax?