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 in pipeline sits on a 15-acre piece of land and according to Mututho, it cost him close to Sh400 million to establish it.
In earlier interview, Mututho revealed that 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.”
The efforts by Mututho deserve recognition by government.
Infact the government should ensure total support to Jomec Rehabilitation centre.