MWANGI: World ventures or con game? Why are pastors fronting this gamble?

MWANGI: World ventures or con game? Why are pastors fronting this gamble?

Eight years ago, a pyramid scheme in Kenya going by the name Deci collapsed, and with it the lifetime investments of thousands of Kenyans. But history, it appears, has an uncanny way of repeating itself, and today similar schemes are back in the market, albeit more sophisticated.

The collapse of Deci in 2008 occasioned serious soul-searching, especially because the scheme had been fronted by Christian religious leaders of different denominations (mainly Pentecostal) as the answer to their followers’ prayers for financial blessing. There was desperation all round, with some of those who lost heavily committing suicide. And now, the pastors are at it again.

The latest fraud involves multilevel marketing, also known as network marketing. Recruits are offered something considered irresistible – which is currently an offer to take holidays locally or internationally. Unlike the earlier pyramid schemes, therefore, there now appears to be a tangible product that acts as a smokescreen to con gullible persons.

The recruit will be told about a recruitment fee and not-so-attractive monthly contributions towards their travel plans. To sweeten the deal, however, they will be offered the opportunity to recruit others; upon recruiting a certain number, they stop paying the monthly fees, and then begin earning something as more people come on board.

Eventually, therefore, people join not because there is any attractive discount for travel, but so that they can invite others and gain out of that. And that is where the pyramid nature of the whole enterprise becomes obvious.

Any economy can only grow as people increase production of various goods and services. No real production is involved in multilevel marketing. Those who gain do not enjoy a return on investment, but rather prey on the people they have invited… and the scam goes on. The objective is always to attract enough friends to finance your own greed for travel.

With our economies in their current shape, moreover, many families are faced with numerous difficulties. In such a situation, holiday travel takes a backseat. For so-called pastors to entice their congregants to join a nefarious scheme in which they are bound to lose their savings is unconscionable.

But that’s exactly what is going on: With the aura of godliness in Sunday church services used to sell an outrageous pyramid scheme masquerading as an investment. Yet, the men of the cloth are perhaps simply following the general lust for quick cash that has emerged in recent years.

Indeed, those who gamble their money with the travel deal also engage in other get-rich-quick schemes. East Africans will be left so much the poorer for these new con games. While hordes of desperate people are participating in different forms of gambling that they hope will lift them out of poverty, they will soon enough discover that they have only sank into deeper trouble.

Get-rich-quick schemes merely hoodwink people to seek an easy way to riches. While gambling has been with us for decades, it has never reached the epidemic levels being seen today. The rich had their exclusive casinos, while others bought charity sweepstake tickets whose winnings were modest.

Today, we are witnessing a stupefying stranglehold by various forms of gambling. The popularization of gambling for East Africa’s mass market began with mobile-phone companies, who ganged up with mainstream media houses to encourage people to spend their hard-earned money recklessly in the hope of winning some rewards.

Everyone engaging in the foolish enterprise of betting their money based on the advertising blitz by these telecommunications firms imagines he or she will end up the lucky winner, forgetting that there are millions of other subscribers with the same hopes.

Eventually, this shameless rip-offs of the poor end up raking in millions for the heartless kings of the gambling industry. The prize money is a drop in the ocean when the whole collection is considered – a handsome reward for doing nothing tangible in the economy.

Soon, other similar-minded “businessmen” took cue, and the field became flooded with all sorts of enticing games for gamblers. Sports gambling is now a key preoccupation of urban youth. Young people are gambling away their university fees in the hope of striking riches – leading inevitably to dropping out of college.

But why would a government watch silently as its people are ripped off? It perhaps says something about the mission of such a government – especially when it is already surrounded by so many scandals, using every excuse to drain the Treasury and send its citizens into penury.

Broken homes. Shattered dreams. Suicides. East Africa will have more of these – unless we come to our senses, confront the demon of easy riches, stop the con merchants, and teach everybody the virtues of hard work.

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