OPINION: Will the world ever Know who Killed Fr. Kaiser? By Omwoyo Omwoyo*

Ten Years on, Ten More Questions At the crack of dawn on an August morning 10 years ago, two butchers on their way to the market bumped upon a white pickup that seemed to have crashed by the roadside at a lonely junction, near Naivasha, a 100 km west of Nairobi. In the dim morning light, the pair made out the body of a large white male, lying on his back, a shotgun at his feet and blood oozing from where the back of his head should have been. Also in conspicuous view, was a big pink rosary.

Two hours, later when the police arrived and a crowd had gathered at the scene, body was identified as that of Fr John Anthony Kaiser, a Mill Hill Missionary priest from Ngong Diocese, who was well known for his human rights crusade. He was an American priest who first came to Africa 36 before then as a missionary, freshly ordained. In the few years before his death, Kaiser had become the epitome of human rights in Kenya or the voice of the people, unafraid to speak out against the corruption that permeated the Kenyan government.

Silencing Critics
In an email to colleagues in the US, published in an article appearing in the Riverfront Times of St. Louis, Cornelius Schilders, former bishop of Ngong, Kaiser’s old diocese said that “In public forums and in the Kenyan and international press, Kaiser accused then Kenya’s president, Daniel arap Moi, of staging bloody tribal wars in order to drive people from their land and seize it for his cronies.” It was because of the priest that stories about the harsh conditions at Maela camp, a government dumping ground for internal refugees began to appear. Facing international embarrassment and the loss of foreign aid, Moi decided to close down the camp and disperse the refugees. Government soldiers arrived in Maela on Christmas Eve of 1993 but Kaiser refused to let them in, blocking the church entrance with his bulky frame. He was spirited away, beaten and left for dead in the forest but, somehow, survived.

For the remaining days of his life, Kaiser was harassed by agents of the Kenyan government. They tailed his car at night and threw rocks through the windows of his house. And yet, he was not cowed by all these. Many people who spoke out against the oppression and corruption disappeared, says Bishop Cornelius in his E-mail. Throughout the 1990s, Kaiser had been followed, harassed and even beaten and placed under house arrest by Kenyan police. He fought on. In 1998, when Moi set up the Akiwumi Commission to look into the causes of ethnic violence, Kaiser was determined to testify, and when he finally did in February 1999, his testimony caused a sensation. He claimed the government had instigated the tribal clashes, and named names including President Moi himself. The Akiwumi Commission struck Kaiser’s testimony from the record. Having taken on many issues and running into trouble quite often, a sympathetic government security agent warned him of plans to assassinate him.

So, what Really Happened that Fateful Morning?
Talking to media on the day the body was discovered, Naivasha police told journalists that he had been shot in a “gangland-style execution.” Andrew Kimetto, then Nakuru police commander, described Kaiser’s final hours to media thus: “Kaiser’s truck was hijacked and driven off the main road into the forest. He was pulled from the truck and forced to kneel and say his final prayers. An assassin then shot him in the back of the head. The killers drove the truck back to the Naivasha-Nakuru Highway, dumped his body in a ditch and disappeared.” He added that the crime scene had been staged to look like a suicide. Kimetto ordered an investigation into the murder.

The Big Concoction
But just as sudden as his death, a suicide theory emerged from nowhere and seemed to carry the day. “ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-33#cite_note-33.” Kenya’s chief government pathologist and a pathologist from an independent human rights organization present at the autopsy concluded that the missionary was killed from a muzzle distance of about 3 feet (0.91 m), “From which suicide would be impossible. “ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-34#cite_note-34 However, an FBI expert from Texas, who did not examine Fr. Kaiser but only saw photographs, concluded that Kaiser had committed suicide. “ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-35#cite_note-35.” The Moi government readily concurred. “ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-36#cite_note-36.” The FBI report said colleagues described him as “out of sorts,” “tense,” “scared,” “exceptionally nervous” and “haunted.” He was seen crying at Mass and spent nights awake with a shotgun by his side, and when he did sleep, “Father Kaiser could be heard calling out the names of prominent Kenyan politicians.” The report continued.

Yet that was all they relied on. Nothing about the threats he had received, the kidnappings, the stones to his house. Just the nervousness and fear. They did not even bother to read an open letter to his family and friends shortly before he died: “I want all to know that if I disappear from the scene, because the bush is vast and hyenas many that I am not planning any neither accident, nor, God forbid, any self-destruction.” Suicide is a mortal sin, a violation of everything Kaiser stood for as a Catholic priest.

Kaiser was Murdered, but Who Did it?
The Catholic Church condemned the report and began pressuring the government of Kenya and the United States to launch an inquest into Kaiser’s death. The Kenyan courts finally began the inquest in 2003, after Moi had been swept from power. It dragged on for more than four years, with frequent recesses and a change in the magistrate halfway through. 111 witnesses gave testimony and the magistrate called the FBI agents to the stand three times, but they never appeared or gave any explanation for their absence. The inquest ended on June 12, 2007, after hearing from the witnesses. The presiding magistrate, Maureen Odero, ruled on August 1, 2007 that Kaiser was murdered, added that the “Suicide Theory” was based on a pre-conceived notion, but stated that “she could not ­ on the basis of evidence tabled before her in the inquest ­ point out with certainty who the priest’s killers were.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Kaiser - cite_note-44#cite_note-44

Of What Use are the Ceremonies?
In Kenya today, the American missionary remains a national hero. Children are named after him. Every August 24, a big celebration for his life and times here is held. But that is almost all. Beatrice Odera of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission at the Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC) says the objective of the celebrations is to advocate for the progress of the case in the court. One wonders what case they are talking about with no single suspect in custody ten years later, no investigations ongoing and nothing much from the church hierarchy.

According to Fr. Vincent Wambugu, the KEC secretary general, after incessant prayers and reflection, the bishops decided that the late priest’s anniversaries should be held locally in churches rather than congregating for a national celebration. “The bishop’s wish is for the court to bring the investigations to a reasonable conclusion. Our strong message for this occasion is that the government should speed up investigations so that this matter can be put behind us,” the priest told The Seed in an interview.

A Litany of Murders
Ten years later, with a lot of encouraging talk and little action from the church hierarchy,one can only count, with amazement, not the number of suspects in custody but the number of missionaries sent to their early graves. Fr. Jeremiah Roche, an Irish Kiltegan Missionary was stripped naked and brutally murdered on the night of December 10, 2009 in his house at Keongo parish, in Kericho Diocese. A seemingly straight forward murder case, there is nothing to show for it except nine suspects in custody, unnecessary postponements and now, the transfer of the magistrate handling the case.

An Italian Consolata Missionary, Fr. Giuseppe Bertaina was also murdered in January 2009 by thugs, who walked into his office in broad day light at the Consolata Institute of Philosophy, Lang’ata, Nairobi. The thugs tied up the 82-year-old priest, stuffed his mouth with papers and fled with an unknown amount of money. According to Brother Kenneth Wekesa, IMC, who is following up the case, “the culprits have defended themselves and now we are awaiting the state council and the doctor’s findings.”

Then there is Bishop Luigi Locati, murdered on July 24, 2005 in Isiolo Diocese. A murder suspected to have been planned by one of his priests. Thirty five witnesses have given evidence and eight more are lined up. Another brutal murder happened in Ngong Diocese in 2004 where Irish-born priest of St Barnabas Parish Matasia, Fr. John Hannon of Society of African missionaries was killed by unknown people.

Mother, Protect your Children
The list of death is agonizingly long. And so is the deafening silence. But what is more agonizing is that mother church is doing nothing about it. Kill a policeman, there is fire and brimstone to pay. Kill a Muslim cleric and you will be smoked out of your hideout. Kill a Catholic missionary or even a bishop and issuing long pastoral letters seems to be the operating theme.

There is only one way to ensure quick justice is delivered for the innocent blood of missionaries shed all over the country. Only one way to ensure butchers going about their business at wee hours of the morning see only the blood of animals at slaughterhouses and not of Catholic missionaries. Take a stand and let the world know you will not sit by and watch your foot soldiers killed for leisure.

*The writer is the Communications coordinator of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru and Assistant Editor CISA. This Article first appeared in The Seed Magazine of August 2010.