How much does 10 Million Dollars Weigh?…. Apparently 100 Kg.

I came across an old article from an April edition of Standard Newspaper reporting that one of the Ocampo Six had lost 10 million dollars at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport. Allegedly his carry-on bag went missing while waiting in the VIP lounge. Unfortunately, the article no longer is available online.

At the time the article was written much of the details surround the allegation were foggy and many questions remained unanswered. Was the money stolen or misplaced? Where the body guards involved? Which politician was it? The story quickly unravelled when someone noted that 10 million dollars weighs exactly 100 KGs – hardly a sum of money that can be easily hidden in a carry-on bag. The Standard eventually had to make a retraction of the story.

The tale exhibits all the signs of a classic urban legend in Nairobi: political greed, audacity, betrayal, and…of course… stupidity. Such a outrageous tale would be fit for only a tabloid rather than a public newspaper…. If only it wasn’t true…

Kenya’s political established is either involved in or complicit with trafficking. The tend to stay away from ivory and humans, and focusing more on drugs and gold – which offers more lucrative kickbacks pound for pound. Money which is eventually cleaned-up in the real estate sector or in lost on expensive cars and women (kama kwaida). What I find interesting is the GoK actually became interested in the tale and questioned members of the standard media. It was not something that they could ignore as hearsay or simply laugh off because they know such high level hustling is rampant. I think they just wanted to know how one of their own could be so stupid to put himself at risk.