“I Have Lost the Music of My Youth” — The Words That Silenced a Nation at MP Ng’eno’s Memorial

The widow of slain Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament Johana Ng’eno delivered an emotional farewell to her husband on Wednesday, remembering him as a devoted family man whose warmth and laughter defined the best years of her life.

Naiyanoi Ntutu Ng’eno spoke during a memorial service held for six people who perished in a helicopter crash in Nandi County on February 28, 2026 — among them her husband, who represented the Emurua Dikirr constituency in Narok County.

Fighting back tears, Naiyanoi painted a portrait of a man who was as tender in private as he was prominent in public life — a father who adored his children and a husband who made the uncertainties of young marriage feel manageable.

“You are the life of my early days when everything was still soft and full of possibility,” she said. “We were young, learning life together and somehow you made it all feel less frightening and more beautiful.”

She recalled his laughter as a constant source of joy in their home, one she says she can still hear and believes she always will. But it was his role as a father, she said, that revealed the fullness of his character.

“The way you loved your children — you adored them, held them with pride and looked at them like they were your greatest accomplishment,” Naiyanoi told mourners. “In their eyes you were their hero. In mine, you were a gentle, devoted father with a gentle heart.”

She described her husband’s death as the loss of something deeply personal — not merely a person, but an era. “It feels like losing the music of my youth, the laughter, the dreams,” she said, vowing to preserve the foundation he built for their family.

The memorial also honoured the five other victims of the crash. Captain George Were, who piloted the aircraft, was among those remembered alongside forest ranger Amos Kipng’etich, photojournalist Nick Kosgey, popular educator Robert Keter — widely known as “Mwalimu Carlos” — and protocol officer Wycliffe Kiprotich Rono. Families and loved ones of each victim gathered to pay their respects at the sombre ceremony.

The February 28 crash claimed all six lives aboard and triggered an outpouring of grief across the country, particularly in the constituencies and communities the victims served.