Nairobi — Kenya's newest millionaires went on a spending spree yesterday - thanks to compensation paid by the British to victims of unexploded shells left on the firing range.

With a total of Sh540 million to spend, the Maasai and Samburu herdsmen took their wives and children into town to visit clothes and shoe shops, and then to sample the best on offer in the hotels and cafeterias.

Clad in red shukas (traditional wraps), and wearing rubber tyre sandals, with their clubs under their arms and Somali swords strapped to their waists, they arrived in Nanyuki in packed commuter taxis and headed straight for the local branch of Standard Chartered Bank, where the British government had wired most of their cash.

Of the 288 claimants given compensation, 154 are now multimillionaires - receiving between Sh3 million and Sh27 million each. The others received compensation of between Sh850,000 and Sh1 million.

The younger recipients could be seen in various popular drinking joints as early as 10am, where they drank copiously and consumed kilos of meat surrounded by friends.

Others went wild with their money, handing over bundles of cash for vehicles without even bothering to get documents to prove ownership.

The route between Nanyuki and Doldol which usually has two commuter taxis operating on a daily basis had a convoy of 30 taxis taking people home after their Monday buying spree.

Purchases included household goods, battery-powered radios and bedding as well as clothing.

At the bank staff seemed unprepared to handle their new clientele and long queues snaked through the hall.

Normally customers with six figure amounts in their accounts are given VIP treatment, and never have to queue.

Others were well prepared for the new millionaires however. News of the moneyed residents of Archers Post has drawn the attention of twilight girls from all over the region and particularly from Meru and Nyeri districts.

Their new found-wealth notwithstanding, some of the recipients were acting with caution, having paid heed to the two-week workshop sponsored by Standard Chartered and Osiligi, the organisation which championed the compensation suit.

During the workshop, they were taught options for investment and money management.

Osiligi manager James Legei said the training was intended to advise beneficiaries on the best ways to use the money for themselves and their families. It was also an opportunity for the organisers to warn people against frittering away their money, as happened to the majority of civil servants when they received their retrenchment money.

"We would want the money to help them and their future generations so that their efforts in seeking the compensation does not go to waste," he said.

Nanyuki residents were worried that the infusion of large sums of money would cause a mini-inflation of goods and services in the town.

Construction companies and commuter taxi salesmen are likely to make a killing since many of the new millionaires said they would build permanent houses and set up a transport business.

Mr Mohammed Leresh, who lost a nine year old son in the early 80s and who was making his first visit to a bank yesterday withdrew some money from his account, which had been opened for him several weeks ago.

"I will buy a Land Rover to enable me to get to my home in Archer's Post and build myself a permanent house," he said.

A woman who lost her right leg when she was a child in the mid-60s and who was among those who received the highest amounts in compensation said she would put up a permanent house to care for her seven children.

The woman, a single mother, is currently living in a mud and grass village at Archer's Post.

The 11-year old boy blinded by an explosion in April 2000, Ilmolian Lekupaye, who has been attending Egoji School of the Blind, run by the Catholic church, will have the money held in trust for him by the bank and the court until he reaches the age of maturity. Meanwhile the trustees will look after him and his family.