One of former President Daniel Moi's escorts was in 1982, shortly after a plane crash, mistaken for Jesus Christ in a rather weird turn of events.
In a sit-down with The Standard on Tuesday, November 26, Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd) Seth Shava recalled the fateful day after his plane crashed somewhere in Central Kenya and heard locals shouting "He is the one!".
According to the retired lieutenant, the talk began while he was packing the parachute that had saved him from a tragic plane crash.
Shava was part of a four-man team that was escorting Moi from a visit in Tripoli and was being transported back. Moi had opted to be accompanied by fighter jets after picking up the influence from a trip to Israel.
Shava was part of the team headed by Michael Gichangi, Geoffrey Okang’a (who later served Kenya’s high commissioner to Uganda) and Christopher Kariuki, all who had jets.
“Normally, formation jets take off in twos, but because it was raining heavily on that day, it was decided that we take off one by one," explained the retired military man.
The team would also later learn that Gachang'i's jet developed problems leaving the three to escort the president who was entering into the Kenyan sky.
As they were preparing to join, they met another glitch as the airforce team did not inform Captain Francis Mwangi, the pilot of the plane carrying the president, about the fighter jets and so he asked them not to move anywhere close to his aircraft.
“Our team leader Gichangi passed the information to our superiors, who then contacted the Department of Defence, who in turn contacted Kenya Airways,” he narrated.
While in the sky and having kept a safe distance from the passenger plane carrying Moi, Shava recounted entering into dense clouds just after they were cleared to fly in formation.
That was when he realised that he had to make space for his colleagues to get in formation.
“Things were moving too fast. I could hear Gichangi and Kariuki talking over the radio asking where I was, but I could not answer them because I was fighting with the controls to steady the plane. Realising that I was fighting a losing battle, I decided to engage the eject system and promptly ejected.
“Then I saw a flash and my entire life from my childhood through school to employment up to that particular moment was played. I saw all the things I had ever done and the people I ever met,” he explained.
After he was flung out of the plane, the parachute opened and he slowly and safely descended onto the earth's surface.
For a group of Akorino faithful who were praying in the area, however, the script was pretty different. They reported hearing a loud burst and when they went to check, a plane had crashed and Shava was descending from the sky with a brightly coloured parachute. That was when they thought that he was Jesus.
