The Kenyan government is set to commence the building of a three-bedroom apartment for departed world marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum in the next seven days.
President William Ruto on Thursday, February 15, deployed experts to the home of the late athlete to start the building process ahead of his burial on February 24, as part of the government’s promise to bid him a “heroic farewell.”
“We had very special guests today visiting Kiptum’s family and they were sent by the President, Dr William Ruto, because they want to put up a house for his family, a three-bedroom house that has to be ready before he is buried on February 24.
“The engineers were on site today, and they said; ‘give us the site you want the house to be and leave the rest to us. I seven days we shall have a house here and the President says he wants to be in the house before he is sent off like a hero.’
“There were three sites that they were looking at. One within his father’s compound plus two other pieces of land that he bought within Kaptagat so by the end of tomorrow [Friday] we should know where the family has decided where the house will be put and where Kiptum will be buried,” Mike Okinyi from Citizen TV disclosed late Thursday.
Kiptum, 24, died in a fatal road crash alongside his Rwandese coach Gervais Hakizimana on Sunday, February 11.
His grieving widow, Asenath Jeruto revealed early this week that before her husband’s untimely passing, he was nursing plans to build a house for them. The government will now fulfill those plans, albeit his inability to watch the dream materialise.
“We had very many good plans with my husband. Even in April, I was to go to the Rotterdam Marathon with him. The house was to be done in June and we planned to move out after that.
“He also had plans to open a business for me because I am a stay-at-home mom,” she said.
According to directives from the Head of State who will be overseeing the project, the engineers are expected to begin construction work on Friday.
Kiptum set a marathon record time of 2:00:35 in Chicago in October 2023. His death came as a shock to many sports lovers across the globe.
Investigations into the accident that claimed the athlete’s life alongside his coach are ongoing, following allegations that the car might have been tampered with. Preliminary investigations showed that the vehicle they drove in had no mechanical faults at the time of the crash.
“The examiner said there was no pre-accident evidence of a mechanical breakdown, which basically means it had good breaks, tyres, lights, everything mechanically okay,” Elgeyo Marakwet Police Commander Peter Mulinge said.