Death of Colonel Duncan Keitany has robbed me of husband, father to my four children

Colonel Duncan Keitany, one of the airmen who died with Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Francis Ogolla in a helicopter crash last week, shared startling similarities with his boss.

Like General Ogolla, Colonel Keitany helped build a church, he was a deeply religious man, and he paid school fees for the poor. He also donated land to the Church at his home in Eldama Ravine, Baringo County.

Col Keitany joined the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in 1992, eight years after General Ogolla signed up in 1984.

When the Nation visited the colonel’s home in Rongai, Kajiado County, a sombre mood hang in the air .

Colonel Keitany and his wife Norah Chebet Keitany, who lived in Rongai, moved in together on April 18, 1995. They had three children and adopted one. The children are; Lorraine, Mitchell, Rayan and Mercy.

Colonel Keitany will be buried on Saturday at his home in Baringo and the KDF is coordinating plans. Mrs Keitany, thrown into widowhood just a year before the couple marked its 30-year anniversary, told the Nation how fate brought them together.

The two went to the same secondary school before going their separate ways as their careers led them on different paths.

Mrs Keitany enrolled in medical school while Colonel Keitany joined Lanet Army Barracks in Nakuru to pursue his military career as a pilot in the Kenya Air Force. As fate would have it, years later, they met again in a Public Service Vehicle — the defunct Nyayo Bus.

Read: Inside the copter that killed KDF General, 9 others

“We met in a Nyayo Bus, and later in the streets of Nakuru when he was in Lanet as a Cadet. When I came to Nairobi, we met again. That is how our journey started,” Mrs Keitany said.

The widow said their early years in marriage wasn’t a walk in the park, and they worked hard to be where they are. She said her husband was generous and shared whatever little they got with other relatives and the community.

Read: Captain Litali: A life cut short, leaving family's hopes and dreams shattered

Until his death, Colonel Keitany paid school fees for some children in the extended family.

Mrs Keitany described her husband as a God-fearing man who supported the Church.

“He loved God. Actually, he donated one hectare of land to the church in the village. He supported the work of God. He paid fees for a lot of children,” she said.

On the fateful day, Mrs Keitany was at a medical camp when she learnt about Gen Ogolla’s death and kept praying that her husband would be among the survivors. It was not to be.

Mrs Keitany said her husband liked having fun with his family. She said he was a master storyteller, and whenever he was at home, they went to bed late.

Colonel Keitany liked watching Formula 1, a hobby his daughter Mitchell took up.

“My husband liked making jokes, and we could laugh. He also liked roasting meat. We will miss seeing that,” she said, adding he liked going out with his family especially on Sundays after Church.

Mitchell, the second born, was very close to her father.

She told Nation they used to have long conversations. When it was cold, she said, he would light a fire to make her comfortable.

“He could light a fire, then we would sit, talk, laugh and had a good time together. He advised me to work hard,” Mitchell said.

“I was the last person to talk with him on Wednesday night. We were supposed to take a kitten to one of my friends on Thursday, but he said he was travelling. We knew he’d come back home…,” she said.

Mitchell is happy to have celebrated her 25th birthday with her father last month.

I’m really happy for spending so much time with him, bonding with him. It was a sad moment seeing the body…but God has a reason for everything, and we really thank God because we don’t know his plans.”

Read: Bang, ball of fire is all there was: Residents tell of General Francis Ogolla’s copter crash

Also, Mitchell is happy to have celebrated her 25th birthday last month with her father. He made the birthday of each of his children special whenever he was around.

Col Keitany was a trained pilot with the Kenya Air Force, a role that he played well until his eyes developed problems. That is when he stopped flying military planes and was deployed to deal with security matters.

“Along the way, he had issues with his eyes, that he could see the runway in doubles, and he stopped flying,” Mrs Keitany said.

That is how the late Col Keitany found his way accompanying the security team to the volatile region in the Rift Valley region, only to perish in a chopper crash.

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