Were it not for the unprecedented death of Tecra Muigai Karanja in April, the sassy Keroche heiress would be someone’s wife by now.
Tecra had just been proposed to by her 51-year-old boyfriend Omal Lali Omar barely a year after the two met and their love blossomed.
According to the Standard, both families – Tecra and Lali’s – were aware of this. All that was remaining was a wedding to cap it all.
But as fate would have it, Tecra breathed her last at a cottage in Lamu’s Shala village where they were staying for a holiday, possibly enjoying each other’s company before having their wedding a month later.
Tecra fell off a flight of stairs and passed on, much to the dismay and shock of Lali who was arrested for alleged murder before being released.
But even in her death, Lali says he will never find another woman who is like Tecra.
“She was a special lady. Even I know there can never be another like her,” he told the Standard in an exclusive interview.
Tecra’s death is still very fresh in his mind. There are days he walks to his favourite spots where they would hang out on this island and shed tears.
“God had his reasons for taking her this early. We will never know why”, he said remember such a night which he would be with his deceased wife.
He adds: “I miss many things about her. You would never get bored around her. She never talked ill about anyone else. She was sensible.
Always had a smile on her. Her smile and her heart were the same,” Lali adds.
A big heart she had, Lali recalls, Tecra had sourced jobs for his kin in Naivasha where she worked at the family’s brewing plant – Keroche Breweries.
Tecra who had spent most of her adult life in Italy was always wanted to go back but when she met Lali, she set her mind on settling down on Kenya and even drew up a business plan to open a classy boutique hotel in Naivasha.
Both Lali and Tecra were well travelled internationally and this gave them an upperhand in drawing up their business plan.
Lali lived in Britain together with his wife and kids for about 15 years. He has also lived in Netherlands where he has another wife and a kid.
However, he was not bread and butter for Tecra’s family but the lass had stood her ground and told off a section of her family members that she would live her life as she pleased.
