On Thursday, President William Ruto sent specialists to the late world record holder Kelvin Kiptum’s residence with the directive to construct a three-bedroom home for him.
Before the athlete’s burial on February 24, Ruto gave the experts seven days to build the house.
Before Kiptum is laid to rest, the Head of State is supposed to supervise the house’s transfer to his widow and children.
After speaking with the athlete’s family yesterday, the engineers are supposed to start building as soon as possible in order to comply with the directive.
The Thursday discussions centred on whether the house should be constructed at Kiptum’s father’s home or on land the athlete had bought.
Kiptum’s last wish before dying in an accident on Sunday, February 11 was to build a home for his family. According to his wife, Asenath Jeruto, the athlete had already drafted his architectural plans for the dream house which was approved by the county government.
The family was to begin constructing the home later in the year.
‘We had very many good plans with my husband. Even in April, I was to go with with to the Rotterdam Marathon. 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 stated.
Notably, Ruto’s orders were aligned with the Cabinet pledge to ensure that the athlete, who set a marathon record time of 2:00:35 in Chicago in October 2023, is given a befitting send-off.
Meanwhile, police are continuing with their investigations into the accident that claimed the lives of Kiptum and his Rwandese Coach Gervais Hakizimana amid allegations of foul play.
Among those who were interrogated were three mysterious men who visited Kiptum’s family four days before his death and the woman who survived the Sunday, February 11 accident.
Notably, preliminary investigations ruled out any mechanical issues on the car. Detectives, however, stated that the car would be subjected to further analysis to ascertain if it was tampered with.
“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 stated.
