Ex-convict who stole to ‘pay his fees’ graduates
Justin Mabuka with his wife Betty Nyabate and their children during his graduation at the University of Nairobi on September 4, 2015. Justin, an ex-convict, graduated with a degree in veterinary medicine. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |
What you need to know:
- Quest for education, amid grinding poverty, drove him to crime.
- Mabuka, 33, did not let his circumstances define him, he beat odds to earn a degree in veterinary medicine.
While the prospects of going to prison might present a bleak future for most people, this has not been so for Justin Mabuka, who has just graduated from the University of Nairobi.
Ironically, for him it was an opportunity to get an education. From an ex-convict to graduating with a degree in Bachelors of Veterinary Medicine, and finally earning the title Dr Mabuka, the long journey began at Naivasha Maximum Prison.
In 2006, at 24, Mabuka was convicted for theft and jailed for seven years. The driving force behind his crime was the thirst for education. For his poor family, education was a luxury.
“I found myself in bad company. We robbed a store in Nakuru. I was desperate to pay my school fees,” said Mabuka.
But two weeks later, he was arrested because the gang was caught on CCTV cameras installed in the shop. A mobile phone he had stolen easily gave him away. It was tracked, and police traced him in Nakuru.
“Officers found us with stolen electronic appliances and money. I couldn’t deny in court, I pleaded guilty,” he said.
Oddly, Mabuka was happy to go to jail because he would finally go to school without worrying about money.
In 2007, he joined Form Three at the prison and in 2008, he sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam. He completed high school when he was nearly in his mid-twenties.
“When the results were released in 2009, I had scored an A. The government reviewed my case courtesy of the officer in charge Patrick Mwenda. The High Court freed me on educational grounds,” he recalled.
Mabuka was released early on April 1, 2009 instead of 2014. He received a certificate for good behaviour, good leadership skills, discipline, and exceptional academic excellence.
But what keeps nagging him, he said, is the Bible he saw at the shop they stole from — a sign that he was not supposed to go down that path.
“God did not want me to get my education through theft. God makes a way where there is none. If I had continued on that path, I could have died,” he said.
Elizabeth Odera of Alpha Ministries, whom Mabuka met at Christ Is The Answer Ministries, Valley Road in Nairobi and Mary Khaemba, rallied their colleagues who raised fees for him.
He enrolled for a degree programme. During his five years at the university, he never sat a supplementary exam.
Mabuka, 33, said he learnt a lot about life from the writing on the wall of the cell he was confined to: “In the desert of calamities and trouble, there is an oasis of happiness and success.”
“I learnt to be contented, courageous, disciplined and to trust in God. To always do the right thing,” he said.
Mabuka is a proud husband and father of two sons, Baraka and Bahati. His mother, Rebecca Mabuka was overjoyed. “This is my son,” is all she could say.
Out of an initial class of 120, the author of three books was among the 66 who graduated.
