Bethuel Mbugua: Genius or charlatan?

By Joe Kiarie

He was enrolled in secondary school when he was only seven years old. He had lectured in about 300 universities and secondary schools in East Africa by the age of ten. Thanks to his brainpower, he wined and dined with presidents and ministers all over the world.

This is none other than Bethuel Mbugua, the child genius who awed millions of people and hit newspaper headlines in the 1980s and 1990s for perfecting an art that many people could only dream of.

Mbugua with friends in the US (left)

"Pengine ana mchango yake (Maybe he is bringing his contribution)," he recalls the VP’s words.

Images of President Moi leaning over with his hand on Mbugua’s back, his neck outstretched and the young boy trying to reach his ears were all over the newspapers the following day.

This, he says, was one of the most historic moments of his life.

By 1988, Mbugua had become a familiar face in the newspapers. But it came to a sudden end when it was proposed that he be subjected to an IQ test, which was administered by Dr David Kabithe. According to the findings, the boy was just a good actor who could not tell the difference between Hamburg and a hamburger.

A laughing stock

Comic strips of the boy filled the newspapers as politicians capitalised on the saga by urging that Mbugua be taken back to primary school with children his age. That marked the end of the media blitz.

Mbugua whispers something to then President Moi. Photos: Courtesy

Later in August, Kenyatta University held an international mathematics conference in Nairobi and Mbugua was invited to attend. During the photo session for participants, including the then Finance minister Prof George Saitoti, Mbugua found himself standing next to a lady called Lenore Blum.

"Little did I know that she would take a very risky step that drastically and dramatically changed the course of my life," he notes.

Lenore asked Mbugua why he was present there despite his tender age and he explained his circumstances to her. She sought to meet his father and that happened the following day.

Things happened fast and Lenore soon informed Mbugua that she had even called her husband in San Francisco asking him how he would feel if she was to bring back with her an African boy.

Lenore and Mbugua’s father submitted a letter to the American embassy authorising her to be Mbugua’s guardian while in the US. After a few months, he was on a plane headed for the USA in a journey sponsored by both Lenore and Kenya Airways. That was on October 20, 1991, the day that marked the onset of a new era in Mbugua’s life.