A joint requiem service is underway at Africa Gospel Church (AGC) in Karen, Nairobi, following the tragic death of Emurua Dikirr MP Johana Ng’eno and five others, who perished in a helicopter crash on Saturday, February 28, 2026.
Naiyanoi Ntutu Ng’eno rose to pay tribute at the requiem service of her late husband, Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament Johana Ng’eno.
Soft-spoken yet unshakeable, she stood before a grieving congregation and gave the man she called ‘Joha’ the only farewell worthy of a love like theirs.
Naiyanoi described her husband as the companion of her youth, a man whose very name carries the weight of a lifetime of shared memories.
She recalled how, in their early years together, his love turned an uncertain world into something beautiful and worth celebrating.
They were young, learning life side by side, and he made every step of that journey feel less daunting.
“You are the love of my early days when everything was still soft and full of possibility. We were young, learning life together, and somehow you made it all feel less frightening and more beautiful. Your love, oh your love, made all the early days feel like celebration,” Naiyanoi said.
She spoke of his laughter as something so deeply familiar that silence now feels foreign, a sound she believes will never truly leave her.
But her most tender words were for the father he was.
Johana did not only provide for his children but he was also present, playful, and visibly proud. He held them close, marvelled at them, and treated fatherhood as his greatest privilege.
To his children, he was a hero. To Naiyanoi, he was something rare, a gentle, wholehearted man whose devotion never wavered.
“The way you loved your children, adored them. You held them with pride. You played with them. You looked at them like they were your greatest accomplishments. In their eyes, you were a hero. In mine, you were a gentle, devoted father with the biggest heart,” she stated.
Grief, she said, feels like losing the soundtrack of her younger years, the laughter, the shared dreams, and the innocent belief that time was endlessly theirs.
Yet even in the depths of loss, she drew comfort from one unchangeable truth, death cannot undo what love has built.
The family they raised, the memories they made, and the life they shared together remain standing long after he is gone.
“Losing you feels like losing the music of my youth, the laughter, the dreams, the simplicity of believing we had endless time. But even death cannot take what we built. It cannot erase the love, the memories, the family we created,” she said.
She closed by assuring Johana that he will always belong to her, her first love, her beginning, and a permanent part of everything she is.
“You’ll always be my Joha. Rest gently, my love. You’re forever part of me,” Naiyanoi concluded.
The joint requiem mass serves as the first major public farewell, honoring the victims’ service to the nation and community.
According to the programme; on Thursday, March 5, 2026 the bodies will be airlifted to Emurua Dikirr for a public requiem at Emurua Dikirr Primary School, allowing constituents and the public to pay last respects.
Friday, March 6, 2026 a final joint rites at Emurua Dikirr Primary School, followed by individual burials for MP Ng’eno, Robert Keter, Amos Rotich, and Wycliffe Rono at their respective homes.
