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Kenyan
human rights priest murdered
by John Kamau, Rights Features Service
(August 25, 2000) A
U.S.-born Kenya-based Catholic priest who has been protesting
continued human rights violation in Kenya was murdered on the
night of August 23 in what police described as "gangland-style
execution."
Father John Kaiser,
who early this year won the Law Society of Kenya Human Rights
Award, had his head completely blown off using a Mark IV rifle
and the murder scene later arranged to look as if he committed
suicide, police said.
Kaiser, an American
Mill Hill missionary, was stationed at and headed the Lolgorian
Catholic Parish in Trans Mara District of Rift Valley province.
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Father
John Kaiser won the Law Society of Kenya Human Rights Award.
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Sources say that the
priest was in the process of helping victims of politically instigated
tribal clashes that rocked the Rift Valley province from 1991
to 1994 file a civil suit against the government. The clashes
left more than 400 people dead and displaced thousands of families
who are still internally displaced. Some have been living on handouts
from Fr. Kaiser.
Declared persona
non grata
Fr. Kaiser's work among
the internally displaced gained international attention last year
when the government of Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi declared
him a persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country.
The order sparked protest from the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, human
rights organizations, and churches forcing the government to rescind
the order.
Last year, the priest
again clashed with Cabinet ministers Nicholas Biwott and William
ole Ntimama, whom he accused of sending youths to Israel for commando
training. He said the youth were to be used to fan more tribal
clashes in the Rift Valley province, regarded as the power base
of President Moi.
Of late, and for the
better part of this year, the priest has been at loggerheads with
a Minister of State in the Office of the President, Julius ole
Sunkuli, who is alleged to have raped an under-age schoolgirl.
Fr. Kaiser rallied the Federation of Women Lawyers, Kenya Chapter
(Fida-Kenya) to initiate a private prosecution against the minister
after the government refused to prosecute the case.
Sunkuli, a senior cabinet
minister in charge of internal security, had publicly accused
Fr. Kaiser of being behind his woes.
"Father John Kaiser
hates me like poison…the priest designed and executed a plan to
bring out what he intended to be a sex scandal. Currently, he
has opened his doors and office to all my opponents and anyone
who wishes to say anything against me," said Sunkuli in a recent
press statement.
The Sunkuli case has
begun at the High Court.
 Last
moments
Local media reported
that the priest's last moment came after he was kidnapped in his
pick-up truck and driven off the main Naivasha to Nakuru Road
some 78 kilometers (48.4 miles) northwest of Nairobi.
Nakuru Police Commandant
Andrew Kimetto told the press that "before he was shot, he was
made to kneel and say his last prayers." He however could not
explain how he came to this conclusion, according to press reports.
Surprisingly, the death
of Fr. Kaiser came two days after he confided with a colleague,
Fr. Francis Mwangi, that he thought he would be killed.
"He told me he was
feeling paranoid. Something was disturbing him and he was in no
mood to speak," Mwangi told the press in Nairobi.
Back at the murder
scene, police found an axe while his vehicle, which belongs to
Ngong Diocese, had been run into a ditch to create the impression
that the priest died in a road accident.
"Traffic policemen
established its gear was not engaged. The attempt at a cover-up
was a flop since it is very clear that he was shot through the
right side of the head at close range," said Kimetto at the scene.
Kimetto said the vehicle
had dents, which indicated that his attackers pursued him in a
green vehicle and attempted to force him into a ditch. Although
Fr. Kaiser did not possess a firearm, a Mark IV gun was found
close to his body and in his shirt pocket was found one round
of live ammunition, police said. The police also found more bullets
in his trouser pockets.
The police also found
blankets, sheets, and a pillow spread as if to create the impression
that Kaiser had shot himself.
Commission of Inquiry
Last year, Fr. Kaiser
recounted to a Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate
the ethnic violence that rocked Kenya between 1991 and 1994 how
a camp he started in 1994 was flattened by ruling party Kenya
African National Union (KANU) youth wingers and police while he
was held under house arrest. He said the camp housed more than
30,000 victims of tribal clashes who were then bundled into government
vehicles and taken to unknown destinations.
During the inquiry
Kaiser grabbed media attention when he claimed that senior government
officials were behind the clashes and said, "all big people in
the government are involved in land grabbing in the Rift Valley
province."
The inquiry report
has never been made public a year after it was handed over to
President Moi.
Fr. Kaiser arrived
in Kenya in 1964 and stayed until 1968 when he returned to the
U.S. for one year. He returned to Kenya in 1969 and served in
many dioceses. In 1999 the Law Society of Kenya awarded Fr. Kaiser
the Human Rights Award in recognition of his work in defending
the internally displaced.
In 1989, a top Kenyan
bishop, Alexander Muge, was killed in similar circumstances a
day after he was warned not to step in Western Kenya for his fierce
criticism on President Moi. The bishop defied the order and died
on his way to the province after his vehicle was involved in road
accident.
The death of Fr. Kaiser
will raise serious issues on the state of human rights in this
east African nation.
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