This is a very serious tragedy for the whole of Kenya, not only for the families of ten people and 'servants' of the state. A tragedy whose contours have not yet been clearly delineated, although the hypothesis of a pure accident is the clearest and most probable one. Yesterday afternoon, in northern Kenya, specifically in the county of Elgeyo Marakwet, a military helicopter with 12 people on board, 10 officers, the pilot and a photographer, crashed to the ground shortly after taking off from a secondary school and caught fire.
Among the passengers was Kenya's Chief of Defence, General Francis Ogolla, appointed just under a year ago by President William Ruto, along with other key officers.
He and nine of them died instantly, some burnt to death. Two others are struggling with death in a hospital. President Ruto called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council in Nairobi, at the end of which he broke the news on live television, declaring three days of national mourning.
"This is a very sad day for me and for the whole nation," he said, "a defence team is already at work investigating the incident.
The military, led by Ogolla, were inspecting some schools in northern Kenya, in a region long plagued by banditry, after the president himself had called for decisive action to reopen the schools, which had had to close due to insecurity, after attacks by thugs in which innocent people, including a headmaster, had also died. Ogolla was also visiting troops and was on his way to Turkana.