Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei has met the family of John Okoth Ogutu, a Kenyan teacher who was killed in Tanzania.
Ogutu lost his life during post-electoral disturbances in Dar es Salaam.
During the meeting, PS Sing’Oei assured the family of the government’s commitment to repatriating the remains of the late teacher.
"The government was committed to finding and repatriating the remains of our late national," he said in a statement on X.
In a tweet on X, Vocal Africa stated that, "According to the Principal Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the main reason the repatriation process took longer was the delay in swearing in Tanzanian government officials. However, with the new cabinet now in place, the PS is optimistic that the Tanzanian government will respond promptly to the matter, which the Kenyan Embassy in Tanzania has been consistently providing updates on."
On November 19, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi disclosed that the government had demanded urgent action and assistance in tracing the victim’s body.
John Ogutu, a teacher at Sky Schools in Kinondoni District, was shot dead on 29 October 2025 at around 7 p.m. in Goba Centre, Ubungo District, during post-election unrest that followed Tanzania’s 29 October presidential polls.
Speaking before MPs on Wednesday, Mudavadi said Ogutu’s case remains the only death involving a Kenyan reported to authorities—but one that has raised serious concern due to delays in locating the body.
He revealed that search efforts by Kenya’s High Commission in Dar es Salaam, assisted by Sky Schools, had failed to trace the body despite checking several hospital mortuaries across the city.
The Ministry, he said, immediately alerted Tanzanian authorities and formally requested intervention through diplomatic channels.
“I have also written to my counterpart, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Republic of Tanzania, seeking urgent assistance in resolving this matter,” Mudavadi told MPs, adding that the teacher’s family had been informed and would continue receiving consular support.
He assured Parliament that the government would facilitate repatriation once the body is found and that Tanzania had been asked to fast-track investigations.
Mudavadi used the tragic incident to highlight broader concerns about the safety, documentation and monitoring of Kenyans living, studying, working or doing business in Tanzania.
He disclosed that between July 2023 and June 2024, a total of 3,503 Kenyans were formally documented by Tanzanian authorities.
This included 448 student passes, 879 work permits, 370 business registrations and 1,806 residence permits.
However, the Cabinet Secretary warned that Kenya currently lacks an effective system for tracking its citizens abroad, following the shutdown of an online registration portal that had recorded 276,186 entries between 2021 and June 2023.
The platform was disabled due to lack of funding, leaving the government reliant on manual registrations at embassies and consulates.
As a result, only 766 Kenyans had physically registered at the missions in Dar es Salaam and Arusha between 2021 and October 2025.
Mudavadi said the gap in data poses challenges for emergency response, crisis management and long-term policymaking.
He urged Parliament to fund the restoration of the online registration system to enable real-time monitoring of Kenyans abroad.
On the situation following Tanzania’s election, Mudavadi said no Kenyan-owned business had reported major losses or destruction.
The only incident recorded was at Namanga One-Stop Border Post, where a tear gas canister fired by Tanzanian security forces landed on the Kenyan side and struck the KRA cargo scanner facility.
Kenyan authorities responded immediately, and no significant impact was reported.
