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The Priest Who Paid for Justice With His Life
- Details
- Published on Monday, 02 July 2007 02:27
His focused crusade against wrongdoing always rubbed the high and mighty the wrong way and there was no love lost between him and at least three cabinet ministers. Many have speculated that this high- level hatred was linked to a recent Government attempt to deport him. On February 2, last year, he enraged cabinet ministers Nicholas Biwott and Mr. William ole Ntimama by accusing them of sending Kenyan youths to Israel for commando training.
The priest told Akilano Akiwumi Commission on tribal clashes that the commandos Mr. Biwott and Mr. Ntimama had sent to Israel were to be used to evict Kisii and Kuria people from Trans Mara District. Evictions, Fathner Kaiser said, had started in 1989 after Mr. Yusuf Haji, then Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner, had visited the Lolgogorian area and ordered non-Maasai residents to leave. Mr. Haji is now a Kanu nominated MP.
The non-Maasais who failed to heed the order were forced out and their houses set on fire by administration policemen, he said. He told the commission he could make available hundreds of witnesses who had attended the PC's meeting to confirm his testimony. The commission, appointed by President Moi to study the causes of the violence and recommend action against culprits, was chaired by High Court Judge Justice Akilano Akiwumi, assisted by Mr. Justice Samuel Bosire and Lady Justice Sarah Ondeyo.
The report has never been made public almost a year after it was handed over to the President. The outspoken cleric attributed to powerful people in the Government the plans to evict other non-Maasai - most of them Kikuyu -residents from the Rift Valley Province ."All big people in the Government are involved in land grabbing in the Rift Valley Province, " he told the inquiry. "This is also the case in Trans Mara. It had nothing to do with the Kikuyu or Kisii occupying water catchment areas." He was responding to a claim by Mr. Ntimama, in whose Narok Constituency Enoosupukia is located, that the evictions were necessary to protect the water catchment area from destruction.
"I have never believed what Hon Ntimama says about the Enoosupukia water catchment area," he went on. "There is a lot of environmental degradation in Mr. Ntimama's area and he does not speak about it, yet he has been shouting about the water catchment water area." Both Mr. Ntimama and Mr. Biwott angrily denied the cleric's charges.
The deportation bid was widely believed to have taken place at the behest of certain senior politicians feeling threatened by the priest's influence in their domains, Mburu Mwangi adds. Father Kaiser was to fall just short of blaming it Mr. Sunkuli. He had publicly accused him of having been rigged into Parliament. And he had played the vanguard role in bringing to public attention the allegation that Mr. Sunkuli had raped Ms Florence Mpayei, an under-aged cousin. A rape case is pending in court, being [prosdecuted by the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida).
Pegged on "illegal residence", the deportation order had to be withdrawn as a result of great hullabaloo from the human rights groups, the church and US embassy. On receiving the order declaring him a persona non grata, the priest ruished into hiding. Although Catholic Archbishop Ndingi denied knowledge of his whereabouts, he said he was sure the priest was safe. It later turned out that he had hiding at Kisii town Kisii. Said Ngong's Bishop Davies afterweards: "I did not know where he had taken refuge until he called me on Sunday. He is safe and sound at Kisii." He added: "Fr Kaiser may have taken refuge at Kisii because of his long-time relationship with the Kisii people. He has worked with the community for a long time."
When the deportation order was reversed Fr Kaiser said: "I am saddened to be kicked out of Kenya. I am more of a Kenyan than an American. But I am happy most Kenyans appreciate my work. Only a handful of people stand to gain if I leave the country." On November 9, just around the time the deportation controversy was on, Mr. Sunkuli was quoted as saying: Father John Kaiser hates me like poison." He accused the Lolgorian, Trans Mara, Catholic Parish priest blowing his work permit problem out of proportion to whip up public sympathy. Fr John Anthony Kaiser was born on November 29, 1932, at Perham, Minnesota, US, in the diocese of St Crowd. He studied at St John University Collegeville, Minneapolis, between 1951 and 1953 and between 1957 and 1958, graduating with a BA.
