No answers to murder of priest, 20 years on

Twenty years after outspoken Catholic Priest John Anthony Kaiser was found brutally murdered, his killers are yet to be brought to book.

With fingers pointing at senior government officers for the murder, the priest’s death is among the growing list of unsolved murders in Kenya.

What remains are memories, a wooden cross and a plaque in Morendat in Naivasha where his lifeless body was found on the morning of August 24, 2000.

And as the church quietly marked his death, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) said it would not rest until the killers are brought to book.

The commission admitted to reaching a dead end in their quest for seeking justice for the deceased.

According to Father Francis Mwangi from Ngong Diocese and who once served with Father Kaiser, the church will continue to remember efforts of the dead priest.

In an interview, Mwangi claimed that senior persons in the government were involved in the killing of the priest.

“We have written to the government seeking information over the killing and it’s like we are speaking to a wall,” he said.

Mwangi, who was once arrested with Kaiser in 1994 in Maella attributed the death to the move to identify those involved in sexually abusing girls and backing ethnic violence.

“Before he was killed, Kaiser had spoken out against some people who had impregnated young girls in Kilgoris and those involved in ethnic violence,” he said.

Kaiser who was vocal in fighting for the rights of marginalised people was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun which was found next to the body in Naivasha.

His body was found at 6am on August 24, 2000 beneath two acacia trees at Morendat junction on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway. He was carrying documents he intended to present to the Akiwumi Commission on land clashes.

Work permit

In November, 1999, the  government tried to deport Kaiser, claiming that his work permit had expired. Kaiser briefly went into hiding in Kisii before he was granted a new work permit, but only after intervention by the US Ambassador Johnnie Carson.

In 2003, then Attorney-General Amos Wako conceded to the wishes of the family and church and granted a public inquest into the priest’s death.