‘Kenyans regularly change their snoring partners’

Experts have argued that people cheat to “reinvent themselves and be the person they think they want to be. Here are four different categories of promiscuity.

1Romantic infidelity: Occurs when two estate or company love birds who have regular sexual partners take advantage of an opportunity and have a romp during an out-of-town trip. “Romantic” infidelity is most common when couples have fallen out of love.

2Obligatory infidelity: Is based on fear that abstaining from someone’s sexual advances might result in rejection. So one cheats to gain approval while still strongly attracted to their spouses.

3Conflict-romantic Infidelity: Happens when one falls in love, but has a strong sexual desire for other partners.

4Commemorative Infidelity: Here couples have completely fallen out love, but are still in a committed relationship with each other.

To frame promiscuity in Kenya, Infotrack Harris, a local research outfit, carried a survey that it released before this year’s Valentine’s Day, revealing that 33 per cent of couples cheat.

• Married couples, sadly, comprise 59 per cent of cheats, with the engaged follow at 48 per cent.
• Men came on top of women as the majority who confessed to having a side dish.
• The four greatest enemies of a man could be a debt-ridden father, characterless mother, moronic brats and a promiscuous wife.
• The survey showed that 32 per cent of women between 25-35 years engage in multiple affairs. Women were most bitter about being cheated on. Men (38 per cent) aged 35-44 were found to be in multiple relationships too.
• Indeed, 35 per cent of the married confessed to being knee deep with two other partners besides their regular snoring partners.
• The survey showed that the majority of women prefer spending important days in their lives such as birthdays and Valentine’s with their secret flings.
• It intended to find out the current relationship status of adult Kenyans, how they met, level of commitment and satisfaction.

A different study carried out by Spylink International, a private investigation outfit based in Kenya, in 2008, revealed that marital infidelity was on the rise, with women, who are traditional victims playing supporting roles.

Men take gold with a 75 per cent share of cheating medals to women’s bronze at 25 per cent in 2002, but they upped their medal standings to silver with 45 per cent by 2008.

The study pegged this scenario on “changing lifestyles and women’s empowerment through higher education and knowing “their rights.”

Hard economic times implied that more women were exchanging their bodies for material favours.

The survey, however, revealed that “as the data stands, women in Kenya will be leading the infidelity game come 2010”.

Even worse was the fact that 99 per cent of married couples cheat on each other, with Nairobi, of Kenya’s eight provinces, leading with 60 per cent of unfaithful men, and women at 40 per cent.

Nyanza comes second with 55 per cent of men and women at 45 per cent. Western and Rift Valley take fourth and fifth slots respectively, with men taking 65 per cent, while Coast came fifth with men leading with 60 per cent.

In Eastern province, unfaithful men stood at 70 per cent and 85 per cent in case of men in North-Eastern, a region where women are socially, culturally and economically suppressed.

Central Province was the surprise package with women taking a 60 per cent stake a head of their men.