Dr Alfred Mutua, the Governor of Machakos county, like many other successful individuals also has his story of past tough hustles and struggles that can be proof to young people who dream of being successful some day that they have to work really hard, and that the only place that success come before work is in the dictionary.
Speaking during an interrogation on Citizen TV, Dr Mutua revealed some facts about his past that not many knew. Mutua said that he believes poverty is in most situations self-inflicted.
He criticised the act of people just sitting back at home and saying that there are no jobs in Kenya and doing completely nothing about it, others laying the whole blame on the government.
Mutua explained that he was also born in a very poor family and grew up in Kibera slums but the different thing he did, was to take every opportunity available to him and utilize it in one heart.
He said that his first job was in a construction site commonly known as 'mjengo' where he used to mix gravel, 'koroga' and push wheelbarrows and at the end of the day get something in his pocket.
"I used to wake very early in the morning and walk to Kawangware so that I could not miss to secure myself a task, sometimes I was assigned to building walls and fences and I did it," he said.
He said that he already had form four certificates while he did those odd jobs that seem for the illiterate as he waited to join form five.
He did not have opportunities for white color jobs and that did not justify him to stay at home doing nothing. Mutua said that he ever dropped out of school in form two, while he was studying in Daggoreti high school but did not give up. He looked for ways and he luckily come across a good Samaritan he mentioned as Mr Waithaka who paid his school fees until he finished his fourth form in Jamhuri high school.
Mutua always aspired being a leader since he was a young boy and he became a Sunday school teacher as a young teenager, since it was the only leadership post he could get at the time. Mutua also believes education is a major key to success.
He was lucky enough to get a scholarship from missionaries who saw a potential leader in the young Sunday school teacher.
He did his bachelors degree in Journalism in Whitworth College in US, a masters degree in Communication from Eastern Washington university and a doctorate in Communication and Media from University of Western Sydney, Australia.
He critisised university and college students who spent most of their time partying, grabbing beers and making stories instead of starting to build their future during the much free time one gets which in the higher education institutions.
He mentioned that during his university life, he took extra courses mostly on computer which help him secure some part time jobs which made him good money during his campus life.
He came back to Kenya and was employed as a lecturer in Daystar university at 27. During that time, he also had a part time job as a writer for Daily Nation which made him make even more money.
Mutua did not just wake up and find himself as the governments spokesman of Kenya and later the Governor of Machakos.
He has hustled his way there by simply utilizing every opportunity available and this should be an inspiration to every young person who dreams of being successful.