Fondly referred to as Jabunde (the man of the guns) or Jalweny (the military man) by his fellow residents of Majiwa Village, Homabay county, retired Sergeant Aron Ojode served Kenya for 22 years as a Kenya Defence Forces officer.
“I joined the Lo-Rateng Primary School in 1954 and left in 1957 while in class three pupil due to challenges at home after which I moved to Kericho county to work as a tea picker until 1964. After returning home and joining the Kenya Defence Forces, I proved to be very good in intelligence gathering in my initial years but my modest education prevented from joining the Military Police,” said Ojode.
The 75-year old military officer says that the climax of his work as a military officer, was out of 28 officers interviewed to be in charge of the mausoleum for the late founding father of the nation, the then chief of general staff the late General Jackson Mulinge, chose him to be in charge and was given Standing Orders of Parliament to guard the late President.
Ojode says that during his four year duty at the mausoleum, he had 56 military officers working under him and three corporals deputizing him.
"I used to welcome the family of the late President every time they came to lay wreaths in remembrance of Mzee. It was also part of my duty to welcome all the dignitaries who visited the site to pay their respects. Apart from the former first family, other dignitaries included Major Jackson Mulinge, Prince William
Sadly, his term came to a sudden end during the August 1982 attempted military coup against former President Daniel Arap Moi organized by disgruntled Kenya Air Force officers. He received orders from his seniors to immediately report to the Langata Army Barracks for further instructions, with the other
members of his A Company platoon.
“When we reported at the Barracks, we were among those assigned the responsibility of going to Nakuru under the command of Colonel Cheboi to escort our Commander-In-Chief Daniel Arap Moi to Nairobi. We did so after which he (Moi) went straight to the Voice Of Kenya (now KBC) and addressed Kenyans announcing that the coup had failed and the country was now safe,” said Ojode.
The Retired Military Officer said that he served as a member of the Presidential Escort Unit based at State House Nairobi for 18 months and travelled around the country with President Moi a lot, and that he once travelled out of the country with President Moi to Djibouti after which he was transferred to the Recruit Training School in Eldoret where he served until he retired on December 1, 1986.
Ojode who is a husband of two wives, a father of twelve children (four of them deceased) and a grandfather of 25 grandchildren appealed for assistance from the government due,to his exemplary service to the nation saying that his family is wallowing in poverty with none of his children having a stable job to support the rest of the family.
The Retired Military Officer,said that he spent most of his savings in taking care of his brothers and sisters after their father passed away and he was also entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of his grandchildren after four of his children passed away, which he said as weighed him down and appealed to the government to at least employ some of his children and grandchildren to
the military to ease the burden on him.
“At the moment I am very poor and I do not even own a bicycle, someone may wonder where did this Officer who served in the military for 22 years took his money, but I would like to tell them that I was forced to take care of my brothers and sisters and my grandchildren after the death of their parents which is not an easy task for anybody to undertake,” said Ojode.
The Retired Military Officer, who currently serves as a watchman at the rural home of the former Nairobi University lecturer and Constitutional expert the late Dr Chrispine
Mbai said that due to the overwhelming
responsibilities to take for his extended family, his children were not able to get
good education and that most of them were at home engaging in some menial jobs in the village.
Ojode who was given Ksh 75,000 lumpsum money when he retired from the military and gets a pension of Ksh 3,400 monthly pension said that the amount was meager to take care of his large family and appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to come to his aid and that it was sad that a military officer who played crucial roles in the Kenyan Military could be suffering like he was doing at the moment.
“I am very saddened by reports that Kenya Defence Forces has lost more than 100 officers due to an attack by Al Shabbab terrorists while serving in Somalia, I would urge our officers to be extra vigilant because during my time it was unheard for a Military Barrack or camp to be overrun by enemy forces, I believe that our officers will triumph in their assignment in Somalia,” said Ojode.
Ojode’s first wife Belliah Anyango asked the government to consider the plight of the family saying that her husband spent his prime years serving the nation while his family stayed at home sentiments that were echoed by her co wife Peris Dullo who said that they will appreciate if their husband is recognized as a hero and also is family taken care of well.
“We are appealing to the government to build our family modern houses since my husband was not able to do that during his time in the military since he was very busy serving the nation and that he had a great responsibility taking are of his extended family, we are also appealing for the employment of our children and grandchildren in the military as a honour to our husband,” said Anyango.
Anyango said that besides taking care of his children, grandchildren and great grand children, her husband is also taking care of his 107 years old mother Regina Adero ,whom she said is not receiving an allowance meant for the elderly despite her advanced age and asked the government to include her among the beneficiaries since there were very few people of her age in the country.