Another key witness in Ouko murder dies

Rutashubanyuma · 2012-01-09T04:38:52+00:00

Another key witness in Ouko murder dies Updated 11 hr(s) 42 min(s) ago Related Stories Kiplagat says tribunal cannot look into his past By NICHOLAS ANYUOR and MANGOA MOSOTA Another key witnesses in the mysterious death of the late Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko and believed to be holding crucial information about the circumstances surrounding his killing is dead. Selina Were Ndalo, 68, died after an illness at her matrimonial home in Oridi Village, Ndhiwa, Homa Bay County. She was among the closest servants who saw the minister alive before the badly charred remains were recovered at the foot of Got Alila hills in Koru, Kisumu after he went missing.Selina was present at the ministers residence during the fateful night on which the minister disappeared from his Koru home near Kisumu. Interestingly, her death comes just over two months after that of Dr Jason Kaviti, the former Chief Government pathologist who died in October last year. Kaviti gave conflicting accounts on the causes of the ministers death, and at one claimed the flamboyant minister killed himself, a conclusion later rubbished by independent experts. Selina testified to the Scotland Yard detectives, led by Superintendent John Troon that she saw a white car seen the night Ouko was kidnapped on the night of February 13, 1990. She testified that she "was awakened at about 3.00am by a noise similar to a door being slammed shut but sufficiently loud enough to startle her awake" and that she saw a white car turning at the bottom of the ministers driveway before driving away. Truthful witness Selina was married to the late Wilson Ododa Oyaya, a former assistant chief. Eliud William Aum, a brother to Selina, on Sunday confirmed that she died on Friday night. Aum said rumours had been spread in the past that Selina had been killed. "My sister was never killed. She has been alive. She has just died after on and off illness due to old age. This is what we want Kenyans to know," Aum said. Selina was Oukos cook at his home in Koru, and a report by Troon indicated she was truthful in her account of events, when Ouko went missing. Mr Aum, 64, was then a manager in one of the Oukos farms in Koru. The Ndalos are cousins to Ouko. He said Selina served as Oukos house help for eight years, and left a few months after his burial. At one point she was rumoured to have died. Aum said rumours about her sisters death started in 1992, and Oukos former cook was distressed by the rumours. "She was disturbed by the rumours, even as people said that she had been killed in connection to the death of Ouko," Aum told The Standard. Soon after leaving Oukos home, she went back to Oridi Village where she found the husband bedridden. Oyaya passed on a year later. Soon afterwards, Selina moved to her sister Helina Akeyos home at nearby Thuon-Gweno Village, who took care of her. On Sunday, Akeyo said her sister has been staying with her since 1995, and left a year ago. "We heard the rumours that my sister had been killed, but I was not bothered since she was alive and living with me," said Akeyo, a 60-year-old peasant farmer. Hushed voices The burial arrangements of Selina have tentatively set for January 22. She died in her matrimonial home on Friday at around 8pm. Kennedy Ododa, a step-son to Selina, who is chairing the funeral arrangements, said the Government used her mother to get a lot of information, but would not take care of her, even during her one-year illness. "As a family, we heard people saying that my mother had passed on in the 90s, but we were with her," said Ododa, a retired soldier. Ododa said they removed the body to Osano Hospital Mortuary in Ndhiwa. On Sunday, there were about ten people in her homestead who spoke in hushed voices as the media reminded them of the days the Ouko inquiry was beamed by local and international press. Her co-wife, Milka Omedo said Selina was very ill in her last days and fell into a comma on Wednesday. However, the former Ouko house help would not be taken to hospital due to lack of funds. Eyes gouged out "She was hardworking. She even become a house help for other people long after leaving Oukos home," said Omedo, 50. Ouko, who was 58 at the time of his death, served as a Cabinet minister for 20 years. Retired President Daniel Moi described him as "the best Foreign Minister Kenya has had" in a statement issued on February 16, when he announced the shocking news of the Ministers death. It was at the foot of Got Alila hill, near Koru that a herds boy, Joseph Shikuku, found the charred remains of the ministers body on February 16, 1990, after he went missing for three days. With eyes gouged out and legs broken, Oukos body was in a bad state and the skull had also been crushed and his torso set on fire. Next to the body was a jerrican, a leather jacket, a revolver, a torch and a sword. Initial theory by the Government pathologist that the minister had committed suicide was so ludicrous that it angered many Kenyans. Crime experts have over the years theorized that Ouko might have been tortured to death elsewhere and a helicopter later used to drop his body at Got Alila. A number of investigations carried out to unearth the truth over Oukos death have come to naught. In September 1990, the Scotland Yard detectives arrive in the country, and interviewed several people, among them former PS in charge of Internal Security and Provincial Administration, the late Hezekiah Oyugi, former Nakuru DC, Jonah Anguka, former Kisumu Town MP the late Job Omino and the former Nyanza PC, Julius Kobia. A month later, the Government formed a Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Evan Gicheru, the former Chief Justice. Other members were appellate judges Akilano Akiwumi and Justice Richard Kwach. The commission was, however, disbanded before concluding its work. Soon afterwards, a police inquiry into the death, headed by deputy CID boss Crispo Willis Ongoro was established. The team ordered the arrest of Anguka who was tried for the Ouko death, but later acquitted. Nine years ago, Parliament formed a 15-member ad-hoc committee, chaired by former Kisumu Town East MP Gor Sunguh to investigate the Ouko murder. The Sunguh committee report was debated in Parliament, but was rejected. Additional reporting by Cyrus Ombati

Thread starter Rutashubanyuma
Start date Jan 9, 2012

Rutashubanyuma

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Jan 9, 2012

Rutashubanyuma

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Jan 9, 2012

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