John Kiplagat Koech: Man who gifted space explorers walking stick has one big regret

Photograph of NASA Apollo crew Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins who was the command module pilot and Mzee John Koech was sent the photograph from NASA center in Houston after gifting Armstrong with a walking stick. [Titus Too, Standard]

Koech was born in remote Legetet village in Tinderet, Nandi County, in 1935. He enrolled for Standard One at Sitotwet Primary School in 1947. Koech later went to Sileget for Standard Two but dropped out in Standard Three in 1949 out of protest for being punished by a teacher.

"I had just come out of seclusion after undergoing the Nandi circumcision rite, and I could not agree to be subjected to punishment after a teacher asked me to kneel down before the rest of the pupils," said Koech.

Two years later, Koech went to the neighbouring Kericho District and was attracted by a police band conducted by white colonial officers. Not knowing the police department were looking for potential youths for recruitment, Koech was forcibly listed and taken to Kiganjo for a six-month training.

Driving course

However, he did not last more than two months before he left. "During a morning run, I went past the training zone, looking for freedom fighters. Officers later dismissed me, saying I was too young," he says.

But at home, his peers ridiculed him of cowardice. "I went for a Kenya prisons recruitment drive and was listed under service number 934," he says.

Koech was deployed to Machakos after a six-month training. Later, he proceeded to Kamithi Prison, where he took a driving course.

By 1963, he was back to Kenya Police headquarters and worked in various stations before joining the presidential security escort in 1971, attached to the then Vice President Daniel Moi and later to President Jomo Kenyatta.

In 1973, Koech recalls that he was deployed to carry Very Important Persons (VIPs) and would drive foreign head of delegations from the airport to meeting venues.

Koech, who is married to two wives and has several children, cites discipline for his success in police career but says: "Had I progressed in school, I would have attained higher standing than where I am currently."

He says he took his first flight recently when mobile phone service provider Safaricom bought him a return ticket from Eldoret to Nairobi for his birthday to celebrate him for being their valued customer.