For Alfred Mutua, the dream of flying began long before he ever sat in a cockpit.
As a young boy growing up in Riruta Satellite, Mutua said he would sit outside the wooden shack that was home to him, his parents and siblings and watch planes passing overhead.
He was nine years old when the fascination became a dream.
“One day, something stirred inside my nine-year-old skinny frame, and I wanted to fly one day – not as a passenger but as a pilot,” Mutua said in a post published on August 25.
The dream gained momentum after his class at Toi Primary School visited Wilson Airport. He recalled being shown around planes and getting an opportunity to see their interiors.
“I was mesmerised by the engines and the cockpit,” he said.
Another moment that shaped his interest came during one of his regular Saturday trips to the Kenya National Library.
Mutua said he would take Kenya Bus number 4 from Riruta Satellite to Community to visit the library, where he read books and borrowed others.
On one such visit, he found a picture book by author Dale Carnegie. It contained a passage about the limits of human ability and the role of machines in making flight possible.
The book also traced the history of aviation, from the Wright brothers to modern jets.
“The book followed the history of the magic of flight, from the Wright brothers to current jets. I was hooked,” Mutua said.
Even after travelling to the United States on scholarship, the dream remained with him.
Mutua said he took a job at Spokane, Washington Airport while pursuing his communication career because he wanted to remain close to planes and pilots. But years passed as other responsibilities took priority.
“Many years later, life happened: family, children, career, no time, not enough money,” he said. Then, in 2023, Mutua decided to return to the dream he had carried since childhood.
“I woke up one morning and decided to transform my dream into a reality,” he said.
He enrolled at Ninety Nine’s Flying School at Wilson Airport in Nairobi. For months, he studied late into the night and spent weekends and nearly every evening flying. Six months after enrolling, he undertook his solo flight in Malindi.
“A few months later, seven months from the time I started my classes, I was tested, passed and received my Private Pilot License,” Mutua said.
For the boy who once watched aircraft from the ground, the moment marked the realisation of a childhood ambition.
“My dream as a young, poor boy had become a reality. I could now fly as a hobby,” he said.
Mutua said his flying journey did not end with the licence. He has continued building his flying hours with 99s Flying School and Kenya Aeronautical College.
He said he has flown and trained on several aircraft in Kenya and South Africa and now has more than 300 flying hours.
“Today, with over 300 hours, I fly whenever I can to different locations – which is basically every weekend,” he said.
Mutua has now decided to document and share his flying experiences, hoping his story will encourage other people who have dreams of their own.
“I have been recording my flying adventures and now want to share them with all, and especially you, so that every dreaming boy or girl is encouraged – to know that with God, determination and planning, everything is possible,” he said.
He credited his family and friends, particularly his children, for supporting him in achieving the dream.
In photos accompanying his post, Mutua shared glimpses of the journey, including an image of himself as a young boy, another of him as an adult dressed in pilot attire, and one showing him inside a cockpit.
Mutua is currently the Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection, a position he received during the July/August 2024 Cabinet reshuffle.
He previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs under President William Ruto.
Before joining the national government, Mutua served as the first Governor of Machakos County for two terms, from 2013 to 2017 and from 2018 to 2022.
He also served as Kenya’s first Government Spokesman from June 2004 under President Mwai Kibaki, before resigning in 2012 to seek the Machakos gubernatorial seat. Mutua founded the Maendeleo Chap Chap Party in 2016.
Now, he wants others to follow his latest journey into the skies. “Please come, let us fly together,” he said.
