Moses Wetang’ula was recently elected the speaker of the National Assembly, a move that saw him rise to the third most powerful Kenyan.
His childhood friend and classmate Dismas Masinde Khapondi shared details of his life and upbringing back in Mukhweiya village, Bungoma county, where they were born and raised.
According to him, they both joined Nalondo primary school in 1965 in class one. Masinde however dropped out of school since his parents could not raise Kshs80 for school fees but he later rejoined the school in 1967.
Masinde admitted that Wetang’ula was very hardworking in school even though he also struggled with school fees.
They pushed through with primary school education and Wetang’ula joined Busakala secondary School for form one as he proceeded to AC Butonge secondary school in 1974.
Wetang’ula later joined Teremi High School for form three and four. Because of the fee constraints, at some point, he was forced to become a day scholar.
“He succeeded in exams and was called to join Kamusinga for form 5 and 6. While in Kamusinga there was a time chaos erupted, and as his neighbor and friend he sent me to collect his books because he had been banned from the school. The boy was so clever because he just studied in his house and he passed with an A plain. That is when he joined Nairobi University to study law,” Masinde recalled.
After completing his studies at UoN, he joined the School of Law and later became a magistrate.
“However when we met said that he did not like sending people to jail. I asked him what he intended to do and he said that he wanted to become an advocate and that is how he became a lawyer. He opened an office in Bungoma and another one in Nairobi,” Masinde said.
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