A mechanic who serviced Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s official cars has revealed that he regrets taking the job.
Francis Muia, 73, said that he would have probably chosen a different career path after the one he took as a mechanic for Kenya's founding president, did not land him any riches and fame as he had hoped.
Muia wa Mercedes as he is popularly known said that the only thing he has to show for his heydays is the faint memories of being entrusted with servicing Kenyatta’s vehicles at DT Dobie.
Speaking to The Standard, he explained that he has fallen from grace to grass working odd jobs at his old age in Nairobi's Industrial Area, off Lusaka Road.
The mechanic narrated that he landed the lucrative job by chance in 1962, after being introduced to a white settler who worked for DT Dobie by his brother.
Muia said that his passion led the settler to take him under his apprenticeship at the car dealer in 1969 to hone his skills better.
As luck would have it, DT Dobie at the time was the leading car dealer in Kenya besides supplying and servicing top of the range vehicles for State officials, including President Jomo Kenyatta's.
The nostalgic Muia added that his skills were so top notch that he was put in charge of opening the day's job sheet to track work progress on the former President's vehicles.
He recalls that the job accorded him a rare opportunity to visit State House several times and would travel with Kenyatta during presidential tours along with two other mechanics in case Mzee’s vehicle developed mechanical problems.
After 14 years at DT-Dobie, Muia was given a send-off package of Sh32,000, which he used to buy a Volkswagen and invested the rest in his own enterprise that he ran for only five years.
Despite old age, he says he has never given up on his dream of reopening his garage and noted that if he would meet the current President, Uhuru Kenyatta, he would not ask him for money.
He said he just wants a well-equipped working station that he will use to pass the skills he acquired to the younger generation.
[caption caption="Francis Muia, 73"][/caption]