Francis Ogolla was an unlikely pick as military chief by President Ruto. His untimely death could allow Ruto to handpick his own securocrats, The death of General Francis Ogolla, the Commander of the Kenya Defence Forces, on 18 April, prompted an outpouring of eulogies across party lines that was exceptional even by Kenyan standards. Ogolla was killed, along with nine other senior officers, when his KDF helicopter crashed in Sindar, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, in the Northern Rift.