Former Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana, who has gained commendation for his leadership skills, opened up about his battle with alcohol.
Kibwana, in a local interview, revealed that he joined the civil service as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi at the age of 23.
His first encounter with alcohol however came a few years prior when he was in Form Six.
“When I was in form six in 1972, that was the first day I tasted alcohol. 18 years old, this is how you show you are a man. It was not sweet, I said why do people take this thing? but that’s when I tasted it,” he was quoted as saying.
Billing book for our drinking expenses- Kibwana
Despite his distaste for alcohol, Kibwana would soon become an addict due to peer pressure among his young colleagues.
“After now becoming a lecturer, you have money, you can go to town and paint it red. We would go to the senior common room of the University of Nairobi where we would drink our beer. That was just one place, there were many places we would drink.”
Being a salaried chap, he and his friends each had a billing book where all their bills would be recorded and they would pay up at the end of the month.
He said that between 1979 to 1983 his life was almost a blur as his life revolved around drinking on most days.
Kibwana even went ahead to fit in all his classes on Mondays and Tuesdays so he would indulge the rest of the week.
“Monday and Tuesday I do most of my teaching so my weekend starts on Tuesday evening. We could drink all the beer we want until Saturday. Sunday I’d start preparing for my classes.”
He admitted however that this behaviour only brought problems for him and his drinking buddies. Some absconded their duties at work leading to disciplinary action, financial issues arose among families and so on.
“We would sign and whatever your bill, it would be deducted at the end of the month and sometimes we would drink until there wasn’t money left from your salary.
“I remember one of my friends who is now deceased, realizing that there was school fees to be paid and there was no money left in the salary, he took the book because everybody had their book as he thought if he took it, there would be no deduction, but they still deducted,” the former Makueni MP narrated.
Turning Point
All these however did not prompt him to change his lifestyle, until when he nearly lost his life.
He reportedly caused an accident at GPO roundabout in Nairobi as he was driving home drunk. He had just bought his first car a few weeks prior to the incident.
Kibwana admitted that he fell asleep while driving and woke up to a loud bang and people surrounding his car. Initially he thought it was just a puncture until he heard people talking about what had transpired.
“Those days if you got caught, the system would have a good reason to fix you. I said I think I’m hurt please get an ambulance and I said I’m going to Kenyatta National Hospital. When I got in the ambulance I told them to take me to Nairobi Hospital so when police came to Kenyatta, they didn’t find me.”
His family looked for him everywhere including mortuaries but could not find him.
The former governor’s life took a turning point after he landed a scholarship abroad and had to drop the drinking spree as balancing study-work life abroad was not easy.
Kibwana would later return to the country where he got into various leadership positions including; Makueni MP, Minister for defense, environment. His latest position was governor for Makueni before he finally quit elective politics.
