General Francis Omondi Ogolla has become the first Chief of Defence Forces in post-independence Kenya to die while in office, following a helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of nine other Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) personnel.
A team formed to investigate the chopper crash that killed former Chief of Defence Forces Gen Francis Ogolla and ten others has visited the US as part of the probe into the incident.
President William Ruto made an official announcement of the deaths on Thursday evening, also announcing that the country will observe three days of mourning in honour of the fallen KDF personnel, before retreating back into the walls of State House.
The team went to the Bell Textron Inc. company that manufactured the ill-fated chopper with some of the collected parts of the helicopter.
While President Ruto remained silent on what happens next, the Defence Council could have already met and made its decision on who takes over from General Ogolla.
This will enable the manufacturer to among others determine how and why the chopper crashed, Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale revealed.
Under section 23 of the Kenya Defence Forces Act, the Chief of Defence Forces is appointed by the President, following recommendation by the Defence Council.
“We are engaging and have upscaled that up to the manufacturer Bell, of the U.S because they also have an interest,” Duale said.
The Defence Council, as per Article 241 of the Constitution, is made up of the Defence CS, the Defence PS, the Chief of defence forces and three commanders of the defence forces.
“Our teams are now in the US and have gone with all the parts and once all that information is collected and recommendations are given to us, we will tell the country if was it mechanical or anything else.”
But this is the first time that a Chief of Defence Forces has died in office, more so less than one year before assuming office.
He spoke during Citizen TV’s JKLive Show on Wednesday more than a month since the chopper crashed in Elgeyo Marakwet.
General Ogolla was set to retire in 2025.
The CS said the report would be made public but did not reveal when.He said the Defence Council will receive the report and hand over it to the Commander in Chief.
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