A popular genre of books sold in Nairobi streets promises to teach you how to be successful. A few of the books are about things like happiness and fulfilment. But most of them are about getting rich. If you know Nairobi well, you'll not be surprised that these books are scams. If you don't, a quick look at the non-rich sellers of these books will do the trick- overconfident guides to treasures they do not possess. This article is no different.

I am a Nairobi man writing things on the internet. I am neither rich nor poor. But let this not give you the impression that I am somewhere in between. I am way closer to a Moi avenue hawker than to Dangote. So, take anything I say about wealth with a good serving of salt. With that out of the way, we can dive into the subject.

People often confuse wealth and money. Mostly because wealth is harder to define. Money is money. No one needs an explanation. But you do not make money, you make wealth. Unless, of course, you happen to live in some apartments in Kilimani.

To get a clear distinction between money and wealth I propose we take Bill Gates to the moon, hypothetically. Let's say that Bill Gates is on the moon and he is the only human there. He could have either come with bags full of money or with a robot that gives him whatever he wants at no cost. In which case is he wealthy?

The money is practically useless to him. That is because the function it serves is no longer there. Money is used to exchange wealth; it is not wealth by itself. It is the robot that makes him wealthy in this case.

Wealth is something that people want. Being wealthy simply means having or making something that people want. Wealth can also be stolen from someone or inherited. Wealth does not automatically imply that you are rich. You can have wealth and live poorly. I have heard stories of poor pastoralist men who have hundreds of camels but refuse to sell them. Additionally, some wealth is more valuable than others.

So, for you to become rich you have to create wealth, and then exchange it with money. The money now gives you the option to get anything you want. Being rich thus just means having lots of options.

Whatever I have said above is obviously not the most common way of getting rich in Kenya. Here, you create a problem and then charge for its solution. You destroy a working public institution, then peddle an equally inefficient and expensive alternative. Even when you get to build something, you intentionally do a poor job to get to do the repairs more frequently.

People are often puzzled as to why the government doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because it is more profitable that way. If things worked smoothly a lot of rich men would lose huge sources of income. The whole political system is based on getting the power to create problems. It is why politicians are the richest.

So, if you dream of becoming really rich, find a way to get into politics. Or, find some other way to create problems. You can even spice things up. Simply write those problems on a wheel, then give the people a chance to spin. Now, it is the people who will have the chance to choose their own problems. But it’s you who gets to solve them. And get rich.