- Many see employment as security, but Kelvin Waga’s story shows how quickly the trappings of comfort and access to power can vanish
- After losing his job at Fly 540, he realised that skills, investments, and planning are far more reliable than any salary
- Today, he shares a hard-earned lesson: use your job as a stepping stone to build something that lasts, not just as a source of immediate comfort
For years, the terminal at Fly 540 was Kelvin Waga’s kingdom. The hum of aircraft engines, the crisp uniforms, the controlled chaos of departures and arrivals: it was more than work. It was identity.
Source: Facebook
In Kisumu, he was not just another airport employee. He was Kelvin. Business was brisk. Travellers from the Indian community passed through frequently, often with excess luggage and urgent requests.
Kelvin Waga’s fast life
He told TUKO.co.ke that for six years, late arrivals meant hurried negotiations; overweight bags meant extra charges. And where there were complications, there were tips.
Kelvin disclosed that on a slow day, he pocketed KSh 10,000. On better days, the figure rose to 12,000 or even 15,000.
“Life felt untouchable,” he recalls, adding that he had access to prominent people, to influence, to opportunity, from Western Kenya MPs, business figures, and local influencers.
Since they knew him by name, he had numbers to call if he needed a favour. If there was an opportunity, he was within reach of it.
Mistakes Kelvin Waga made
He mistook proximity for permanence and assumed the proximity to people in high places was stability and security that would last forever. It didn’t.
One morning, without warning, his house of cards ended when he received a letter informing him that he had been fired.
Just like that, the daily cash stopped. The access disappeared. The phone grew quiet. The identity he had wrapped around his uniform dissolved overnight. The silence was deafening.
Kelvin admits he was unprepared. He had built comfort, not capacity. Income, not assets. Connections, not independence. When the job went, so too did the illusion of control.
“There were dark days,” he says quietly. “I questioned my decisions. My identity. I had tied my worth to a job, and when the job left, I felt empty.”
How job loss disoriented Kelvin Waga
For months, he wrestled with the fall. The lifestyle he once commanded was gone. The status he had enjoyed had evaporated. And the easy money he had trusted was no longer there to cushion him.
But what followed was something he had never planned for: reflection. Time forced him to confront uncomfortable truths.
Employment, he realised, is not security unless it is paired with strategy. A salary can sustain your present or build your future. The difference is discipline.
“If I could go back,” he says, “I would upskill aggressively. I would build a side hustle. Invest consistently. Save like my job was temporary. Network beyond convenience. Build something that pays me even when employment doesn’t.”
Source: Facebook
Lessons Kelvin Waga learnt
He speaks now not with bitterness, but with clarity. He understands that jobs end, companies restructure, and airlines collapse, but skills compound, systems pay, and assets protect.
Today, Kelvin describes his life as stable again, not because fortune returned, but because awareness arrived. Losing his job, he says, became the most valuable financial education he never paid for.
The renowned career coach now shares his story openly with employees who believe their pay slip is permanent, advising them to enjoy their salaries but use the job as a stepping stone.
The airport once gave him status. Losing it gave him a strategy. He fell. But he rose again, this time building something that cannot be taken away overnight.
Security guard fired via WhatsApp wins payout
Meanwhile, a security guard who was dismissed through a late-night WhatsApp message was recently awarded KSh 698,292.83 over the dismissal.
Beatrice Mboya was awarded compensation after the court found her employer’s actions were unlawful and procedurally unfair.
It all started when she received a text telling her not to report to work the following day, with no reasons given or a chance to defend herself.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Machakos upheld a trial magistrate’s finding that the dismissal was unwarranted.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
