When the name John Mututho is mentioned, many are familiar with it because of the Mututho Laws on alcohol.
However, a visit to John Mututho Empowerment Centre (Jomec) cuts a better picture of who Mututho is.
Established immediately after he left Nacada, Jomec has transformed the lives of many alcohol addicts who are now productive in life after quitting the bottle.
The facility sits on a 15-acre piece of land and according to Mututho, it cost him close to Sh400 million to establish it.
At the centre we meet Margaret Wangeci who was an addict for many years.
The 49-year-old mother of three says her life was messed up as she encountered economic challenge after borrowing a loan but her businesses failed.
Auctioneers pounced at her.
At that point, she sought solace from the bottle as she thought that was the only way to forget about her tribulations because relatives and friends isolated her.
“I felt like the whole world had isolated me and I had no option but go for the bottle,” she said.
Wangeci who admits being an alcohol addict for over two years said her turning point was when her brother and children started talking to her after they realized she had sunk deeper into the bottle.
“They tricked me that they were taking me somewhere to take Guinness and because I love Guinness, I accepted and we left only to find myself at the centre,” she said.
Wangeci is now a reformed person and has been empowered to start a business in order to be self-reliant.
She is just one of the many alcohol addicts who have been assisted to quit the bottle at Jomec.
According to Mututho, Kenya has close to 8.9 million addicts and the trend if not addressed will mess up even the government’s agenda on development.
Living by the words of John F. Kennedy, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country’, Mututho said he has chosen to reform drug addicts.
“There are two sure ways to deal with the addiction menace by supply suppression and demand reduction. John F. Kennedy said, ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country, John Mututho is doing just that,” he said.
Reforming addicts, Mututho says, is not a walk in the park.
“There are failures too, 20% bad failures because some of these people have complications and it becomes difficult to attain the total success” says Mututho.
The former Nacada boss called on the entity to adopt rehabilitation.
“Nacada does a good job but there is need for more efforts on rehabilitation,” says Mututho.
And to parents, Mututho said: “I want to tell parents that it is your responsibility to take care of your children. Don’t neglect them for that is the reason why we are where we are with many youths in addiction.”
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