The death of Vicky Chebet Kones a recovering drug addict and daughter of the late Cabinet minister Kipkalya Kones has unearthed the plight of rich families children glued on drugs.
Vicky’s story is perhaps the tale of hundreds of well-to-do families grappling with relatives with drug addiction, but who prefer to remain silent for the shame it brings.
The silence by this top echelon of society has made drug addiction seem a problem of the poor, says Dr Frank Njenga, the Chairman of the National Authority for Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse, (Nacada).
Though drug addiction among the rich is prevalent and well-known, only a few would brave the social stigma and admit that their children have the problem.
Among them is former Solicitor General Wanjuki Muchemi, who admits that his son, who died in January, had been an addict of drugs and alcohol for years.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela, for example, admitted that his son Makgatho had died of HIV/Aids complications in 2005.
Some of his clansmen did not agree with him, but by doing so, Mandela said he hoped it would help his country be more open about HIV/Aids, which was almost a taboo subject.
Long before that, David Ogot, a son of former MP Grace Ogot and Moi University Chancellor Bethuel Ogot had tried to raise awareness on the hardly-spoken topic of drug abuse among the rich.
“The silence by our prominent members of the society on this issue is our national shame,” says David. He adds, “I know of several rich families with this problem and I have pleaded with them to share their stories, but in vain.”
David was an alcohol and drug addict for 27 years, and is the founder of the Goinghomedotcom Trust, an organisation dedicated to fight substance abuse among the youth.
But while empathising with their pain, Joseph Kaguthi, a former director of Nacada, says “There should be no shame in speaking about a condition that is increasingly claiming the lives of so many of our youth.”
Drug addiction is an expensive habit and Nacada CEO William Okedi says easy access to too much cash by children from rich backgrounds contributes to its prevalence.
Drug abusers in the gated estates have their doses supplied to them by traffickers who operate in neighbourhoods.
Alternatively, some of them decide to live in dungeons where the drugs are sold, occasionally appearing at home when they run out of money. A former MP who requested not to be named admitted that his son is hooked on drugs.
“I have lost him to the streets. We (family) are enemies. I am trying everything to save him but it is a hard fight,” he says.
Statistics confirm the grim reality of the drug menace in the country. Nacada says there are some 4 million alcohol users, 2.7 million tobacco users and 700,000 drug abusers in the country.
For Vicky, it took a personal tragedy to mend her ways. In 2011, her brother, also a recovering alcoholic, got a seizure associated with withdrawal symptoms, fell, hit a stone and died.
“In his death, I literally saw my own death. After the day we buried him I took myself to a rehabilitation clinic.”
Vicky passed on, may she RIP