Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament Johana Ng'eno
In what appeared to have been the last supper, Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament Johana Ng'eno shared a meal with his constituents on the night prior to the helicopter crash that claimed his life and that of five others.
The fiery United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party legislator also appeared to have had a premonition of his death as he repeatedly told his constituents and participants in meetings in other counties in Rift Valley that death was inevitable for everyone.
Victims of the February 28, 2026, helicopter crash at Chepkiep village, Mosop constituency, Nandi County are – MP Johana Ng'eno, Mr George Were (pilot), Nick Kosgei (photojournalist), Amos Kipngetich Rotich (an officer with the Kenya Forest Service), Carlos Robert Kibet Keter (a teacher) and Wycliff Kiprotich Rono (a protocol officer at the Narok county government).
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen during a church service in Kisumu, on October 26, 2025.
Cabinet Secretary for Interior Kipchumba Murkomen confirmed during the requiem mass at AGC Karen on Wednesday that “there was a depth of faith in him (Ng'eno) that was underrated” – as he appeared aware of the short time he still had to live.
“His favourite song was the Kalenjin hymn song 100 (Miten Emet Barak – there is a home in heaven). I think he was quietly in constant communion with God in his life,” Mr Murkomen said as he remembered the MP with whom he repeatedly differed.
The song quoted by the CS is the anthem during funeral services among members of the Kalenjin community.
The meeting at Changina village in Elkerin ward on the night prior to the crash went on until 2 am, according to various sources who attended, with the MP enumerating his achievements in the three terms in Parliament, as well as current and future plans for the people he represented.
Several of his aides and residents said in different interviews that the MP was in his best element at the meeting, but in retrospect, it appeared he was preparing them for a leadership void that they had not foreseen.
Mr Bernard Ngeno, the personal assistant of the MP, confirmed that his boss was in his best element on the day prior to the accident that shocked the country and plunged his family and constituents into mourning.
“Boss (MP) stayed in the meeting until 2am on Friday and left for his Mogondo home. He was very particular on that day that the people present be fed and the opinion leaders be given the chance to bring out the issues affecting the region,” Mr Ngeno (no relation with the MP) said.
Former Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament the late Johana Ng'eno
Mr Ngeno said, “The MP enumerated his development agenda, what has been achieved so far and the pending programmes, complete with a status report of some of the major projects under construction by the national government and those funded by the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).”
In several videos taken by different people, the MP is seen dancing on top of a platform at night with floodlights and motor vehicles used to light the area, with hundreds of his supporters following suit and waving walking sticks in the air.
Earlier in the day, he held meetings with residents of the Ainamoi area in Elkerin ward as he sought to understand their needs and explain his development agenda while confirming whether the CDF bursary funds were given to deserving cases.
“Interestingly, Mweshimiwa repeatedly told us that he was leaving us in the hands of President William Ruto and Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu in what, in retrospect, appears he had a premonition of his death,” Mr Ngeno said.
It has also emerged, with the backing of video footage from the function he had at Changina at night, that he told his constituents that, like Jesus, he would die and leave the residents with spirits and disciples, as happened with Jesus in the Bible.
The MP repeatedly said that when he dies, he will be remembered for two centuries by the local community and the country.
“When I die, my spirit will be with you for 200 years to come. My spirit will hang around you. I will be with you all through. You have nothing to fear,” Mr Ngeno said in the video that has gone viral on social media, with thousands of his supporters staying unusually late into the night.
He named his “disciples” who would take care of his people in his absence as his close friends – Bernard Ngeno (personal assistant), Carlos Robert Keter (a fierce critic turned friend and teacher who perished with him in the helicopter accident), Ezra Sawe, Geoffrey Bett Kechwo and Titus Rotich.
“The MP spoke in parables and we thought when he said he was ascending, he meant that he would be scaling the heights from local to national politics. Little did we know he meant death,” Mr Geoffrey Bett Kechwo said.
Read: 'Losing you is like losing music of my youth': Grief as family mourns MP Ng’eno and five others
Kechwo said: “He also quoted biblical stories in the two meetings and particularly John 14:1 in which Jesus comforted his disciples: ‘Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me.’”
The man was well-versed in the books of the Bible and often quoted various chapters depending on the occasion at hand.
Kechwo, the man who escaped death by arriving five minutes late at a pick-up point with the MP for the helicopter at Mara Rianta, where the search for drowning victims was ongoing, said the legislator also fielded questions from the public in the two functions he attended in the constituency.
“It is shocking that even the music he played had undertones of death, yet none of us raised any issues at the time. It was common for him to casually talk about death which, at the time we held the meetings, later appeared to have been lurking in the shadows,” Kechwo said.
A scene where a chopper crashed at Chepkiep Village in Mosop Sub-County of Nandi County on February 28, 2026, where six occupants died on the spot.
On the flight, the MP also played songs with sad undertones as he flew to Trans Nzoia from Narok, as per the videos posted on his official social media page before the crash.
It has also emerged that days before the ill-fated flight, he had reconciled Carlos Robert Keter, the teacher who had not yet earned his first salary from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), and Wycliff Rono, a Narok county government protocol officer, who for a long time did not see eye to eye politically.
“It is true he (MP) called me and detailed me to organise a meeting between Carlos and Wycliff, an assignment which I executed. Unfortunately, the three of them died in the helicopter crash,” Mr Ngeno (PA) said in an interview.
Keter, who previously worked at the Deputy President’s office ahead of the 2022 general election, as confirmed by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot during the requiem mass in Nairobi, had declared interest to contest against Mr Ngeno in the last election but dropped out at the last minute.
He remained critical of the MP’s leadership before they reconciled. The MP is said to have assisted him to secure a job at TSC, but he had not reported to his station by the time of the accident.
At a function in Ainamoi, Kericho County, the MP said in October last year that he did not fear death as it would come for him and others when the time comes.
“His death is devastating to the family, the Kipsigis and the larger Kalenjin community and the country. It will take a long time before the region gets a leader befitting his shoes,” Mr Stanley Ngeno, a former Ilkerin Member of the County Assembly, said.
The legislator had fanatical followers in his constituency whose establishment he pushed for unwaveringly after the 2007 general election where it was believed he was robbed of victory by former Kilgoris MP Gideon Konchella.
Follow our WhatsApp channel for breaking news updates and more stories like this.
