Gathoni Wa Muchomba recalls growing up with an alcoholic dad
By Elizabeth NgigiGithunguri lawmaker Gathoni Wa Muchomba recently recounted how her alcoholic dad reacted with anger when he discovered her photo in a newspaper.
Gathoni Wa Muchomba, opened up about her early years, shedding light on her family’s challenges.
At the time, she had performed exceptionally well in her primary school exams and was featured in a newspaper, a fact that took her father by surprise.
“My dad came home after work one day. He passed by the kijiji (local center), and it is there he was shown my photo in the newspapers,” Gathoni recounted during a radio interview.
“He did not even know I was in Class 8.”
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Her father’s puzzlement stemmed from his struggle with alcoholism, which had clouded his awareness of her academic progress.
“Most times, he would keep asking me what class I was in, and I would say Class 4. That day he drunk and demanded to know who gave us permission to be in the newspapers. He threw us out of the house despite the fact that it was raining. We had to wait until he started snoring before we could go back into the house.”
In a separate interview, Gathoni Wa Muchomba also spoke about her deep-rooted aversion to alcohol.
She attributed it to the tragic loss of her younger brother, Stephen Kinyua Muchomba, in 2015 at the age of 37 due to alcoholism.
“I am so bitter about alcoholism, and that is why I don’t give it a chance by any means. My dad was an alcoholic, and it turned him into a mere shadow of himself.
He could no longer comprehend what grade I was in. I would meet him in the morning with a hangover, and he would ask about my school grades.
He had no idea what I was eating or even which school I attended. The pain of losing my brother to alcoholism drives me to fight against it,” Gathoni Wa Muchomba passionately stated.