By the time COVID-19 struck, Alexander Gitau had established himself as a key player in the vast beauty industry.
He had run a barbershop for close to 20 years.
However, when things changed, Gitau discovered he had a soft spot for counseling his largely male clients on marital issues and parental disagreements.
He discovered that his advise seemed to work, which inspired him to do something new with his life.
When COVID-19 eventually brought down his business, Gitau chose to expand his counselling abilities by training in mediation, which has led to a new career.
He eventually enrolled in mediation studies while also studying religion at St. Paul University.
“It surprised many people because I had been in the barbershop business from 2002 to 2020 when Covid-19 turned everybody’s life upside down. I had a loyal base of customers but I decided I wanted to explore something different,” he said.
Accreditation as a court-annexed mediator is a difficult procedure that includes an internship and certification vetting.
“I had made up my mind that this is what I wanted to do and so I was ready to do all it took. My mediation internship was at Kilifi court before starting the registration process,” he noted.
After being appointed as one of the country’s 1,500 court annex mediators, Gitau was assigned six courts whose files the Judiciary required him to handle from time to time.
Since then, he has never looked back.
“I am passionate about mediation and I have always believed that instead of going for expensive adversarial litigation in court, it is much easier and harmonious to settle things through talking
“This is what I always told my clients. If you have an issue with your friend or relative, talking it out while embracing the spirit of give and take will lead to a long-lasting solution than fighting it out,” he stated.
Gitau says he enjoys his work though it is emotional draining.
His responsibility as a mediator is to act as a facilitator for the warring parties to communicate, and he has a legal obligation to be unbiased.
“In mediation, parties are guided not to raise their voice against each other, no calling each other names and the outcome is binding to all after they voluntarily agreed to the reached settlement
“They also don’t require advocates arguing out their cases. The advocates can be there to guide them but not to speak for them because it is not an adversarial process. Instead, we are looking out for [a situation where warring parties can reach a] common ground,” he said.
The possible outcomes of mediation are full, partial or no settlement at all and his role is to help them reach any of them.
