John Robert Ouko (31 March 1931 – ) was a Kenyan politician who served two spells as Foreign Minister of Kenya: from 1979 to 1983 and from 1988 to 1990. Ouko served in the government of Kenya from the colonial period through the presidencies of Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi. He was a member of the National Assembly for Kisumu and a cabinet minister, rising to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation by 1990. On 13 February 1990, Ouko was found murdered in Muhoroni; the assassination, perhaps the most intriguing in Kenyan history, remains unsolved.
A report presented in parliament in 2010 states that the murder was carried out in one of then President Daniel arap Moi's official residences. It also called for further investigations into top officials who had been identified as suspects in earlier investigations, including Hezekiah Oyugi (Then Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President), Jonah Anguka, as well as one of Moi's closest allies, Nicholas Biwott, who denied responsibility.Robert Ouko 'killed in Kenya State House' BBC In late December 2010 the report was rejected by Parliament with 55 out of 59 voting against it on grounds that included internal disagreements within the committee itself, with four remaining members refusing to sign the report, and concerns raised by committee member Amina Abdalla, MP, that some recommendations were not supported by the evidence received and that the committee “had problems with its accuracy
Early life and education John Robert Ouko was born in 1931 in Nyahera, in the then Central Kavirondo District of Nyanza Province.The Standard, 13 February 2009: He attended to Ogada Primary School and Nyang’ori School. He later joined the Siriba Teachers Training College. He worked as a primary school teacher. In 1955, he landed a job as the revenue officer of Kisii District. In 1958, he joined the Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, graduating in 1962 with a degree in Public Administration, Economics and Political Science. He then went to Makerere University in Uganda for a diploma in International Relations and Diplomacy.Daily Nation, 4 October 2009: Ouko library a fitting tribute to ex-minister who loved books
At the time of his death, he was almost done with his doctoral thesis, for which he was studying at the University of Nairobi. Despite being known as 'Dr. Ouko', he held only an honorary degree received in 1971 from the Pacific Lutheran University in Seattle.
Political life Shortly before Kenya's independence in 1963, he worked as an Assistant Secretary in the office of the Governor. He was later posted as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works. After the East African Community collapsed in 1977, Ouko became a nominated member in the Kenyan parliament and appointed as the Minister for Economic Planning and Community Affairs.
He was elected to the parliament at the 1979 general elections for Kisumu Rural Constituency and retained his seat at the 1983 elections. For the 1988 elections he moved to Kisumu Town Constituency (later split to Kisumu Town West and Kisumu Town East constituencies), and was re-elected to the parliament.Centre for Multiparty Democracy: Politics and Parliamentarians in Kenya 1944–2007 Ouko was a member of KANU, the only legally operating party at the time.
Disappearance and death
On 27 January 1990, Ouko, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, left Nairobi as part of a delegation of 83 ministers and officials, among them president Daniel arap Moi, to attend a 'Prayer Breakfast' meeting in Washington DC. The delegation returned to Nairobi on 4 February. On 5 February, Ouko met with President Moi, the Japanese Ambassador, the Canadian High Commissioner, Bethuel Kiplagat (Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and Hezekiah Oyugi (Permanent Secretary, Internal Security). Later that day, Ouko travelled to his country residence, a farm in Koru (some 300 km from Nairobi) near Kisumu, accompanied by his driver and a bodyguard.
On the night of 12/13 February 1990, Ouko disappeared from his Koru farm near Muhoroni. His housemaid Selina Were Ndalo testified that she "was awakened at about 3 am by a noise similar to a slammed door but sufficiently loud enough to startle her awake"Troon's Final Report paragraph 32 see and that she saw a white car turning at the bottom of the minister's driveway before driving off.
Francis Cheruyot, a telephonist at Songoh Office, near to the Koru farm, alleged to Detective Superintendent John Troon of Scotland Yard (see below) that on Tuesday 13 February 1990, at about 6 am, he was on duty on the post office telephone switchboard when he saw Hezekiah Oyugi "who was a passenger in a white car containing three other persons" drive past the post office on two occasions but Cheruyot would not make a written statement to this effect. Oyugi was subsequently unable to produce the daily log of his official car.
Body discovery Ouko's body was found later in the day on 13 February at approximately 1 pm by a local herdsboy Joseph Shikuku (also named as 'Shikulu' and Shikuru' in both Troon's and other reports), at the foot of nearby Got Alila Hill, 2.8 km from Ouko's country home, but although he notified the local villagers of this (a fact supported by 'statements in support' given to Scotland Yard detectives by six other villagers) it was not reported to the police. Ouko's body was eventually 'officially' discovered on 16 February, following a police search.
Investigation
Forensic evidence suggested Ouko had been murdered, near where his body was found, killed by a single shot to the head, his right leg broken in two places and his body left partially burned. There was evidence that a gun had been discharged at the scene (although the bullet was never found). A "single caucasian hair" was also found "loosely associated with a partially burnt handkerchief found at the scene". Items including a gun, a torch, a diesel can and matches were found nearby. All of the items were subsequently identified as belonging to Ouko and, with the exception of the jerrycan, matches and torch, had usually been kept in his bedroom. News of the murder set off riots in Nairobi.
Initial police reports, which were affirmed by the then chief government pathologist Jason Kaviti, suggested that Ouko had committed suicide by lighting himself up and shooting himself, but it became known that Ouko had been murdered. The suicide theory seemed an absurd suggestion, hinting at a cover-up attempt. Public pressure led President Daniel arap Moi to ask British detectives from New Scotland Yard to investigate Ouko's death.
The following investigation by the Kenyan police was supported by the arrival on 21 February of Detective Superintendent John Troon of Scotland Yard's International Organised Crime Branch, accompanied by two other detectives and a Home Office forensic pathologist.
Troon's theory
Family wrangles Troon's initial investigations uncovered allegations of a serious and long-running row in the Ouko family that was testified to in witness statements by Ouko's wife Christabel, in the first two statements given by his sister Dorothy Randiak, and in the statements given by his brothers Barrack and Collins, his sister-in-law Esther Mbajah, the family doctor Joseph Olouch, and family friend Erik James Oyango.
Dorothy Randiak, in her first witness statement, cited the cause of the row: "In 1985 the following happened. Barrack was working as Deputy PC in Nakuru in the Rift Valley Province. From there he was transferred to Deputy Secretary at the Attorney generals office. He did not want this move and he blamed it on Robert [Ouko] because he had ambition to become Provincial Commissioner. Barrack discussed the move to try and prevent it but Robert done nothing about it because of reasons of which they both knew. This caused a lot of bitterness on Barrack's part against Robert but Robert had no bad feeling towards Barrack. The situation still exists. Barrack also influenced Collins which in turn caused him to show bitterness against Robert also. The bitterness of both these brothers was maintained throughout and remained until the time Robert disappeared".
In her second statement made to Troon on 27 March, Dorothy Randiak recounted that a family group photograph had been found in her mother's house in December 1989 in which the picture of her mother had been cut out and that Ouko had blamed his brother Collins for it. She stated also that Collins had told his mother "never to come to the house again and that if she did he would cut her to pieces".
Troon concluded in his 'Final Report' that, "To summarise the immediate family of Ouko, I am not satisfied that they have told me everything they know. There appears to be a shroud of fear surrounding the whole family which prevents them fully disclosing what I believe some of them must know".
Troon also received testimony from Mrs Ouko and Ouko's mistress Herine Violas Ogembo (see below) that shortly before Ouko was murdered threatening phone calls had been made to Mrs Ouko from a woman claiming to be Ouko's "second wife", and also to Miss Ogembo saying that Mrs Ouko knew of the relationship and wanted to kill her and her daughter. Ouko's relationship with Violas Ogembo, whom he had met in 1982 and with whom he had a daughter in 1983, "was apparently open and many of his close friends and colleagues knew of their association" and "at times he would take Miss Ogembo on official visits abroad or arrange her travel to meet him at selected venues". Mrs Ouko stated that she had only found out about the relationship 'during the latter part of 1989'. The woman making the phone calls was never identified. Ouko, according to the testimony of his sister Dorothy Randiak, thought that his brother Barrack "had fed the information in".
Witnesses also spoke of a dispute with local politicians and allegations of fraud in Kisumu Town Council.
Troon's investigation took a dramatic turn in mid March, as recorded in his 'Interim Report' submitted in July. In paragraphs 101 and 102 Troon stated that, 'On Saturday 17 March my colleague Detective Sergeant Lindsay received a telephone call to meet a person in the Imperial Hotel, Kisumu. Lindsay attended the venue and there met a person who identified himself as Professor Thomas A. Ogada, the Kenyan Ambassador to Switzerland', and that, 'Prof. Ogada informed Lindsay that he had been directed by His Excellency the President to hand over to the Scotland Yard Officers a sealed envelope which he had brought with him from Switzerland. In addition to the envelope, Prof. Ogada supplied details of two contacts in relation to the contents, one being Mrs Briner Mattern, the other being her advocate in Kenya Mr Frank Addly of Kaplan and Stratton Advocates, Nairobi'. No mention of President Moi's involvement was made in Troon's 'Final Report' submitted in August 1990.
Exchange with Biwott In the course of Troon's investigation, a theory gained currency that there may have been an argument between Ouko and some government officials who included Nicholas Biwott, the then Kenya's Minister of Energy, during the trip to Washington following a supposed meeting by Ouko with President George H. W. Bush. Hoever Troon did accepted that the "factual basis" for the alleged row on the Washington trip was "somewhat tenuous" and based on "hearsay" President Bush’s diary records later obtained from the Bush Presidential Library showed no such private meeting occurred. Additional theories concerned a dispute over the cancellation of a project to build a molasses plant at Kisumu (in Ouko's constituency); and that Ouko was preparing a report on high-level political corruption in the Government of Kenya in relation to the Kisumu Molasses Project (which by implication named Biwott).