DAVID MARAGA REVEALS HARROWING ORDEAL THAT MADE HIM QUIT DRINKING

Former Chief Justice of Kenya and 2027 presidential aspirant, David Maraga, has shared his past struggles with alcohol and his journey to sobriety.

Speaking in an interview with Oga Obinna, the retired Chief Justice detailed a life of drinking that began in his secondary school years at Maranda School and continued through his time at Kisii High School, the University of Nairobi, and into his early professional career. “I was baptised in the Seventh Day Adventist church in primary school and was a good boy,” Maraga recounted. “But in secondary school, I found some bad boys who lured me into their company. They told me to just taste, and I continued.”

He described a period of his life where drinking was a regular habit, even recalling a time while working in Nakuru when he would use official trips to Nairobi as an opportunity to “enjoy myself over the weekend.” He shared a low point where he lacked fuel to return to his station and had to enlist touts to find him passengers to fund his trip back.

However, Maraga revealed two critical moments that led to his change. The first was a harrowing realisation after a night of drinking at the Army Barracks in Nakuru. “We drank to around 2 am and I went home, but I couldn’t recollect how I got home. I realised I would have easily died,” he stated.

The second was the strain on his marriage. “I also used to get home at 2 am and ask my wife for food, and she would ask, ‘dinner or breakfast?’ That was the kind of life I lived.” These experiences culminated in his decision to stop drinking. On the 1st of January, 1991, Maraga walked into a church and committed to a new path. “I went to church and never looked back. I had of course tried so many times and failed in the past.”