Government to honour requests to support bereaved families — Kindiki

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has assured families of the six victims of last weekend’s chopper crash that the government will honour requests for support and ensure none of them is abandoned in their time of grief.

Kindiki said he had carefully listened to the appeals made by Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu and other leaders regarding assistance beyond the immediate condolences and burial arrangements.

“For all those six families, I have listened to the various requests for support beyond the immediate support,” Kindiki said. 

He was speaking during a memorial service for the six crash victims at Karen AGC, Nairobi.

"The request by my brother Patrick Ntutu, because we have another qualified person from the same family, I want to undertake on behalf of the government that it is going to be done as requested," he said.

His remarks came in reference to an appeal to consider offering employment to a qualified relative from the family of one of the deceased, who had recently secured a public service job before losing his life in the tragedy.

Kindiki revealed that he had held consultations with Governor Ntutu and agreed on a coordinated approach to address the needs of each affected household.

“We have agreed that because he is the governor from where the majority of these brothers came from, he is going to coordinate so that for each family, whatever requests that are there, Governor Patrick will compile them and bring them to me,” he said.

The DP assured mourners that the national government would review the requests and provide support where possible.

“We are able, as government, to support all the families to make sure that we do not abandon them because of the departure of their loved ones,” he said.

Kindiki cited specific cases that would require urgent attention, including that of a young security officer who died while protecting the late Emurua Dikirr MP Johana Ngeno.

“We will find ways of supporting that family to get somebody else,” he said.

He also mentioned a grieving widow said to have lost her only son, who had been the sole breadwinner for a large family.

“We will see how to support that family,” Kindiki added.

Describing the moment as “very, very painful,” the Deputy President expressed personal sorrow over the loss, noting that he had known Ngeno well.

“I knew Honourable Johana Ngeno quite a lot. We did not agree on many things, but he was a very, very good friend of mine,” Kindiki said.

He observed that while they sometimes differed on methods, they shared a common vision for the development of the people Ngeno represented.

“We agreed on the ideas and vision he had for his people. We would only discuss the methodology of getting those things done,” he said.