An atmosphere of profound grief engulfed Karen AGC Church in Nairobi on Wednesday as Naiyanoi Ntutu paid a moving tribute to her late husband, Johana Ngeno, describing him as the man who shaped her youth and filled her life with love.
Fighting back tears, Ntutu reflected on a journey that began in innocence and blossomed into a partnership rooted in devotion, friendship, and family.
“To my beloved Joha, the husband of my youth, even saying your name carries a lifetime inside it,” she said, her voice heavy with emotion.
“You were the love of my early days, when everything was still soft and full of possibility.”
She recalled how they began building their lives together at a young age, navigating the uncertainties of adulthood hand in hand.
“We were learning life together, and somehow you made it all feel less frightening and more beautiful,” she told the congregation.
Ntutu described her husband as a man whose love transformed the ordinary into something extraordinary.
“Your love made ordinary days feel like a celebration. I can still hear it, and I think I always will,” she said, drawing quiet sobs from sections of the church.
Her tribute lingered longest on Ngeno’s role as a father to their two children, Taparon and Chesang. She portrayed him as a proud, affectionate, and deeply involved parent who found immense joy in fatherhood.
“You adored them. You held them with pride, you played with them, and you looked at them like they were your greatest accomplishments,” she said.
“In their eyes, you are a hero. In mine, you were a gentle, devoted father with the biggest heart.”
While colleagues and political allies remembered Ngeno as a vocal and passionate legislator, Ntutu’s words revealed a softer, deeply personal side, a man whose greatest achievements were found not in Parliament, but at home.
“Losing you feels like losing the music of my youth, the laughter, the dreams, the simplicity of believing we had endless time,” she said.
Yet even in grief, she held firmly to the love they built together.
“It cannot erase the love, the memories, the family we created. You will always be my Joha,” she said.
“Rest gently, my love. You are forever part of me.”
Ngeno died on Saturday, February 28, alongside six others in a helicopter crash at Chepkieb in Nandi County. The group was returning from an event in Endebess, Trans Nzoia County.
He will be laid to rest on Friday at his Dikir home.
