Each human being always desires a good, comfortable life as they proceed through age. In Kenya, the economic difficulties have not been giving youngsters much option as regarding good living. Thanks to creativity and 'survival for the fittest' mind set, most people try to earn as much comfort and quality as possible in housing and lifestyle.

The global trend of young people sharing an apartment or house is not a new thing, although it is not quite adopted in Kenya and other African countries. It is a convenient arrangement where people cost share rent, utility bills and most housing expenses enabling all parties in the agreement to have the kind of lifestyle and comfort they desire. The arrangement has its many advantages and disadvantages which we will not enlist here.

Last year, a male friend of mine entered such an arrangement with a Ugandan female colleague. They both are working with a renown audit firm in town and it would be justified that they are doing well, in their late twenties. Ben insisted to me that Claudia was not his girlfriend and so it seemed until recently when we had a lengthy conversation over it.

The two bedroom apartment in Nairobi's Madaraka estate they live in costs Ksh. 37,000 a month, utility bills inclusive. The arrangement, Ben told me, was that he pays 70% of the rent because he is the 'host and the man' and they equally share the monthly shopping expenses. It worked for the first few months he says, until she become too close for a colleague.

Ben tells me the agreement has never changed to come-we-stay or marriage but she stopped paying rent completely. He now pays 100% rent and does almost all the shopping in the house. He insists Claudia is not his girlfriend although they have more than a working relationship which he 'suspects' is his roommate’s tricky way of evading house expenses.

He told me, with evident bitterness that he regrets getting into the arrangement with a woman, because he cannot 'be hard on her' to make her fulfill her end of the agreement.

"Do not accept to share a house with a woman who is not your girlfriend or your wife." He told me with a straight face, "You will not save and it will be difficult to get out of it. This thing has distorted my financial planning completely. She shops for her own luxury things and throws parties in the house at my expense. It hurts, it hurts man." I almost felt what he felt.

Is Ben's case a secluded one? Is the arrangement more successful with same sex partners? I would be interested to know.