The Catholic Church has said it will continue pushing for the arrest and prosecution of persons involved in the killing of outspoken missionary priest Fr John Anthony Kaiser 20 years ago.
As the church quietly marked the 20th anniversary of the murder, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission said it would not rest until the killers were known and faced justice.
The commission admitted to hitting walls in seeking justice for the priest and the arrest of those who were involved in his murder.
Fr Francis Mwangi of Ngong diocese who once served with the Kaiser said the church would continue to remember the work of the fallen priest.
Mwangi said senior persons in former President Moi’s government were involved in the killing of the priest, adding that the church would keep alive his spirit of peace and justice.
“We have written to the government seeking information over the killing but it’s like we are speaking to a wall but this won’t deter us,” Fr Mwangi said.
Mwangi who was once arrested with Fr Kaiser in 1994 in Maella, Naivasha, attributed the death to the priest's efforts to identify persons involved in sexually abusing girls and stoking ethnic violence.
“Before he was killed, Kaiser spoke out on some people who had impregnated young girls in Kilgoris and those involved in ethnic violence. As a church we shall not keep quiet,” he said.
Fr 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 his body by the road in Naivasha.
His body was discovered at 6am on August 24, 2000 under two acacia trees at Morendat junction on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway.
He was carrying documents he intended to present to the Akiwumi Commission and was to testify against the Moi government before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
In November 1999, the Kenyan government tried to deport Fr 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.
The hearing began in Naivasha but was later transferred to Nairobi under magistrate Maureen Odera who in her ruling directed police to institute fresh and comprehensive investigations into the priest’s killing.
Edited by Henry Makori
