BY GEORGE ODHIAMBO AGEKE: “The talking stage is a poor man’s interview,” a phrase that initially sounds like a witty piece of modern dating banter.

Beneath its surface, however, lies a dark, systemic truth about power, leverage, and survival.

In the contemporary dating market, a man without vast financial resources faces rigorous vetting.

He must endure the “interview”, weeks or months of conversation where his character, consistency, humor, and respect are intensely audited before he is granted intimacy or commitment.

But when a wealthy or well-off man enters the picture, this interview process is often fast-tracked or entirely bypassed thus wealth acts as a VIP pass, rendering the standard emotional background checks obsolete.

For young, financially vulnerable university students, this shortcut is proving fatal.

The trap

We are currently living through a terrifying wave of femicide targeting young campus women, and a chilling pattern connects these tragedies.

The perpetrators are frequently older, wealthier men who understand exactly how to exploit the economic vulnerabilities of young students.

The strategy is tactical. They begin by blinding these women with lavish lifestyles, fancy dates, expensive gifts, weekend road trips, and immediate financial rescue packages.

During this honeymoon phase, everything appears picture-perfect. The material abundance acts as a smoke screen, completely obscuring the perpetrator’s true nature and shifting the power dynamic entirely into his hands.

By the time the flashy curtains fall and the man’s true colors reveal themselves through extreme possessiveness, monitoring, and jealousy, the trap has already sprung.

The young woman realizes something is deeply amiss, but walking away is no longer a simple matter of breaking off a relationship.

Golden cage

Conversations with young women on campus reveal a sobering, heartbreaking reality. Many are living in terror, trapped in golden cages for distinct, paralyzing reasons.

For some, it is the sheer terror of physical retaliation; they know the violent capabilities of the men they are with.

For others, it is the insidious nature of financial dependency, the grim reality of how difficult it is to step away from a lifestyle that covers their rent, upkeep, or tuition fees.

Forced to choose between their immediate survival and their long-term safety, many feel paralyzed.

This paralyzing fear has made perpetrators incredibly bold. They operate with a sense of total ownership, secure in the knowledge that their money buys silence.

Worse still, a broken legal system frequently allows these wealthy perpetrators to exploit loopholes or secure bail, walking away scot-free while leaving the families of the victims to grieve without justice.

This is not merely a “women’s issue”; it is a profound societal crisis. The trauma is visible every single day in our lecture halls and campus pathways. When you notice a gloomy, withdrawn coursemate, a simple check-in or a gentle inquiry can be the thin line holding them together.

We must look out for one another.

It is our collective responsibility to protect our sisters, classmates, and friends. If we allow this predatory culture to go unchecked, the moral fabric of our entire society is compromised. Women are the anchors of our communities, and they have an absolute right to exist in peace.

We drastically need a societal shift: a campus culture of unyielding vigilance, a community that refuses to normalize transactional exploitation, and a legal system that fiercely protects women instead of shielding the highest bidder.

No amount of wealth should ever buy a man a shortcut past a woman’s right to safety, respect, and life.