Could the motive for Dr Ouko’s murder lie in a “row” during the Washington trip?
Troon thought so and he also named those he thought might have been involved …
[TFR Para 142] Throughout the inquiry strong indications have been given of some form of serious dispute between Dr Ouko and Mr Biwott during the Washington trip. Whilst factual evidence to support this allegation is somewhat tenuous…
Nicholas Biwott was then Kenya’s Minister for Energy and had been on the Washington trip
Troon also named the sources for the Washington trip allegation.
The allegations are hearsay and have come mainly from Barrack Mbajah and Mrs Randiak… [TFR Para 217]
The principle source of the Washington Trip theory was Barrack Mbajah, Dr Robert Ouko’s brother but he was not on the Washington trip.
He claimed to have heard this story from a Malaki Oddenyo, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nairobi, who in turn was not on the Washington trip. So their testimony would have been hearsay. And anyway, Oddenyo denied having told Mbajah of any problem at all on the Washington trip.
The other source of the theory was Dorothy Randiak, Dr Robert Ouko’s sister. She too was not on the Washington trip herself. Her testimony would have been hearsay.
She claimed to have heard the story from Bethuel Kiplagat who was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kiplagat denied ever telling her of any problem on the Washington trip.
Had Troon found a possible motive for Dr Ouko’s murder? A row in Washington over a meeting with President Bush, a press conference, or embarrassing allegations of corruption?
Well the answer is almost certainly not.
Troon included Randiak’s alleged conversation with Kiplagat in his Final Report and yet she made no mention of it in any of her written statements.
Mbajah claimed the row was over a meeting between Bush and Ouko… But Randiak did not mention a meeting in any of her statements.
So Troon’s Washington trip theory rests on the unsupported and contradictory hearsay testimony of just two witnesses.
[Waweru PTC] But the story of what supposedly happened in Washington grew with the telling.
And again the principle story-teller was Robert Ouko’s brother, Barrack Mbajah.
In late October 1990, a few days before he was due to give testimony and face cross-examination in front of the public inquiry into the Ouko murder headed by Justice Gicheru, Mbajah fled Kenya and was later granted asylum in the United States.
