One of Kenya’s most high-profile murders – of Foreign Minister Robert Ouko in 1990 – was carried out in one of then President Daniel arap Moi’s official residences, Members of Parliament in Nairobi have been told, according to BBC online Thursday.
Three previous inquiries into the killing have ended prematurely and this one was presented to parliament five years after it was written.
It calls for further investigations into top officials, including one of Mr Moi’s closest allies, Nicholas Biwott – who has denied responsibility. Several key witnesses have since died in mysterious circumstances and the report calls for their deaths to be investigated.
Mr Ouko was well respected internationally (more than President Moi) but fell out with Mr Biwott and other key officials as he threatened to reveal their widespread engagement in corrupt practices.
The authorities initially said he had gone missing, before saying his body had been found by an animal herder near his home shortly after he returned from a trip to the US.
But the report by the parliamentary select committee says Mr Ouko was bundled into a government car and driven to State House lodge in Nakuru, where he was killed.
It said his bodyguards had earlier been withdrawn and that the delay in announcing that the body had been found was to allow time for the body to be transported to Mr Ouko’s home and then burnt.
“The perceived foreign support of Dr Ouko to ascend to the presidency to weed out corruption and human rights abuses was perceived by the leadership as a threat to the presidency and that this could be linked to his death,” says the report, according to the East African Standard newspaper.
