Teso North residents have been thrown into mourning following the death of pilot Alex Oluka, who died in a light aircraft crash at Kipeto in Kajiado West on Friday.
Oluka, a native of Moding village in Teso North Constituency, died while serving as a flight instructor during a training flight. The crash also claimed the life of a student pilot.
Teso North MP, Oku Kaunya, on Sunday led residents in condoling with Oluka’s family at their home in Aleles village as preparations for his burial continued.
Kaunya described Oluka as a pioneer pilot from the constituency whose career had been cut short at a time when he was expected to make a contribution to his family and community.
He said Oluka was among the first beneficiaries of National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) sponsorship for pilot training, having been selected alongside another beneficiary from Kengatuny.
“Oluka was the first pilot from Teso North, and we expected him to come back and uplift the area and become an example to other young people,” Kaunya said.
The MP said Oluka had excelled academically despite coming from a humble background, scoring an A plain of 82 points in the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination at Kolanya Boys High School.
Kaunya said the NG-CDF scholarship enabled Oluka to pursue pilot training, which would otherwise have been difficult for his family to finance.
He said pilot training requires significant financial resources, making it difficult for young people from disadvantaged families to pursue careers in aviation.
Kaunya said Oluka had already started planning to improve his family’s welfare and had sent home iron sheets as he prepared to construct a house for his parents.
He said Oluka’s death was a major setback to the family and the community, which had expected him to use his training to support his relatives and inspire other young people.
Kaunya said his office would explore an opportunity to support one of Oluka’s family members to secure employment and help meet the needs of the bereaved family.
Oluka’s father, Leonard Otolim, said the family had lost a son they had invested heavily in educating.
He noted that the family had struggled to educate Oluka through farming before he received support from the Wings to Fly programme for his secondary education and later an NG-CDF scholarship for pilot training.
He appealed to the government to support Oluka’s siblings, saying the family had other children who were still pursuing their education while another graduate was struggling to secure employment in Nairobi.
He said two twins in Grade Seven and Grade Eight had also looked up to Oluka for support in completing their education.
Locals who visited the family said they had high hopes that Oluka’s success in aviation would contribute to the development of the area and inspire other young people to pursue professional careers.
Oluka had recently graduated from the Kenya School of Flying and was retained by the institution as a flight instructor. He died a few weeks after his graduation.
By Moses Wekesa
