Although it’s important to respect the privacy and personal time of students, what someone does on their own time can sometimes affect their day-day performance—especially when it comes to addiction-related issues. In relation to leadership, drugs and substance abuse can result into poor judgement and improper decision making.
Kenyatta University recently organized a Leadership and Drug Free Youth Sensitization forum in an attempt to discourage drugs and substances abuse in the institution and inspire generation of leaders among the students. LLA, through the Executive Director Mr. Oduor Kevin was invited to deliver a talk on the topic of leadership and underscore the impact of drugs and substances abuse in the society. Dominating his talk was drugs refusal skills. Mr. Oduor Kevin underscored how drugs and substance abuse leads to poor judgement and prevents proper expression of leadership. In an attempt to expound on drugs refusal skill, Oduor highlighted the following:
- Saying NO quickly with a firm and clear voice without hesitation.
- Making direct eye contact to affirm your seriousness and finality.
- Suggesting an alternative:
- Something else to do.
- Something else to eat or drink.
- Asking the person to stop offering you a drink and to not do so again.
- Changing the subject by talking about other meaningful and constructive subjects.
Being student audience, some of the effects of drugs Mr. Oduor highlighted include:
- False confidence
- Health implications including NCDs
- Distracted focus due to hallucination and other undesirable outcomes
- Lost memory due to overindulgent in drug and substances
Legacy Leadership Africa 