For twenty years, Chief Justice David Maraga spent most time with friends in liquor dens, and subsequently, neglected his family.
An excerpt of his speech at Catholic University of East Africa portrays a man who had no ambitions leave alone progressing his career after graduation from the UoN school of Law in 1977.
But when he quit drinking, he recalls, his former drinking mates mocked and even despised him when he stopped buying them alcohol.
"While in that bad company, I drunk hard and, except for providing for the bare necessities, I ignored my family and literally mark-timed for about 20 years.
"I did not bother to further my professional career. But all that time the Spirit of God kept prodding me to return to Church. When I eventually returned, God pointed me to a path of unwavering purpose that has brought me to where I am today," said Mr. Maraga.
The second CJ under the new constitution was baptised in 1965 at his Nyamwetureko village under the doctrines of the Seventh Day Adventist church.
Owing to the fact that he came from a poor home, where he only put his first shoes when he joined Kisii School, Maraga could only face rejections from his friends after turning into a new leaf.
"It is after I discovered my purpose in life that I realised I needed to do a masters degree and I went to class after 34 years. With this new path, some of my friends started mockingly calling me Pastor because I refused to buy them alcohol.
"In the Seventh-day faith, drinking or giving others alcohol is a sin. I found that I could not continue keeping their company and still be a Christian.I started organizing my life," read his speech.
The SDA church is predominant in Nyamira County due to the fact that it's first missionaries settled at Kamagambo, not far away from his home.
Now the President of the Supreme Court, Maraga who joined the judiciary in 2003 after long private practice, says that had he not stopped drinking, he'd be nowhere near where he is.
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