THE COST OF A CLEAN RISE
Getting even a small foothold in most places nowadays, especially in Africa, is not easy, whether one chooses a clean or “dirty” path. This increases the likelihood of being pressured into unethical practices to access anything meaningful—a job, business, capital, promotion, assistance, education, election, success, or even a social group to belong to.
Sometimes, a person is expected to work on the farms of potential helpers, care for their children, fetch food for their animals, wash their cars, or perform other tasks unrelated to their work, vision, or dreams. Sometimes, they are told to sign documents, give money, or falsely testify against someone. Others are overloaded with work until compliance seems the only way out. There is nothing wrong with acts of kindness when they are voluntary and the person requesting them does not act with a humiliating, disrespectful, dehumanizing, or unjust attitude.
Sometimes, you meet someone who appears to be an answer to prayer, only to discover that they want to isolate you from everyone and everything else, under the guise that finding what you wanted means you should forget everything else. You work excessively hard while your mentor earns, yet you receive nothing unless you comply with their wishes, even when those wishes are unethical. You may be forced into an unwelcome romantic or sexual relationship, or told to leave. You may be required to attend expensive seminars, sometimes at odd hours, or lose your opportunity. You receive vague or contradictory feedback, especially when you have not complied with their unclear or questionable demands.
Sometimes, people are forced into isolation and have their critical thinking dismantled before being persuaded to commit acts of violence. For example, a politician or employer may tell you to mobilize against other tribes if you want jobs or promotions for yourself, your children, or your community. Sometimes, there is an outright demand to commit crimes or acts of terror, yet the person issuing these demands is still regarded as a wise mentor and protector.
An “Us versus Them” mentality develops, accompanied by the warning that if you do not join “US,” you can “count yourself out.” A person may eventually become completely alienated.
When newcomers enter unfamiliar spaces, or people pursue a particular victory or success, their natural desire for belonging and achievement can be weaponized against them.
1. Financial Exploitation: The Cost of Admission
Predatory environments present financial extraction not as exploitation, but as an investment in one's future or a test of commitment. This may happen when seeking a job, contesting for a political seat, or when regional leaders, elders, or communities are expected to demonstrate goodwill through financial contributions to secure consideration for their regions.
Newcomers are often expected to work gruelling hours for free or below-minimum wages, sometimes for extended periods, under the guise of “gaining experience.” Their basic needs are disregarded, and any failure to comply may be interpreted as a lack of interest or commitment. Even attachments and internships as good as they are may be a way that excludes the poor who cannot get free days not because they are busy elsewhere making a lot of money but must be busy elsewhere to earn a single meal. When it becomes a must to attach the internship letter, we need to ask if the poor will get the free time for such free services.
Manufactured Financial Dependency: Newcomers may be encouraged to incur debts, such as paying for expensive accommodation controlled by the organization, trapping them in the system. Leaving becomes financially devastating. They must either conform to what others are doing or risk exclusion.
2. Character Corruption: The Erosion of Ethics
To make newcomers or people in need “fit in,” a group may dismantle their existing moral framework and replace it with its own pragmatic or corrupt rules for survival.
Incremental Complicity (The Slippery Slope): Newcomers or people in need are rarely asked to do something deeply unethical on the first day. Instead, they may be asked to overlook a small lie, approve a minor discrepancy, or participate in mocking an outsider. Once they comply, they become implicated, making it harder to resist greater violations later.
Normalized Deviance: The group presents unethical behaviour as “industry standards,” “street smarts,” or “what it takes to win.” Anyone who objects is shamed as naive, weak, or unsuited to the “real world.”
Compromising the Newcomer: Predators may deliberately create situations in which newcomers or people in need break rules or commit minor offences. Once their “hands are dirty,” this becomes leverage for silent or explicit blackmail, ensuring loyalty or providing justification for excluding them.
3. Exploitation of Personal Autonomy and Well-being
Beyond money and morals, newcomers and people in need may be systematically stripped of their personal boundaries.
Time and Energy Depletion: By overloading newcomers or making life extremely difficult for those seeking opportunities, predatory environments impose exhausting schedules and endless hustles to make ends meet. Chronic fatigue follows. A tired mind has less cognitive energy to critically examine exploitation or confidently say “no.”
Isolation from Support Systems: Newcomers or people in need may be told that outsiders, including family and old friends, are a waste of time, and that only lazy or visionless people keep seeking connections elsewhere. This cuts off external perspectives and reality checks. Even when the system promises resources, the individual may instead be victimized, labelled, and blamed.
CONCLUSION
A clean rise may be difficult to achieve today, yet there is an increasing need for more people who desire to rise with integrity, as well as people and societies that value and support a clean rise.
ELIJAH MUTUA KIRIMA
PASTOR AND SOCIAL WORKER
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WILL OF GOD.
