Kenya gives posthumous award to slain priest
By Joe Winter
Catholic Herald correspondent
HUDSON -- A first cousin of a Minnesota priest slain in Kenya while doing human rights work says the lifetime achievement award the priest was just given does not go far enough.
Fr. John Anthony Kaiser was shot to death in August 2000 -- three weeks before he was to testify before the world court about corruption and cruelty in the old Kenyan government. The 67-year-old missionary's death from a shotgun blast was ruled a suicide by the FBI and Kenyan police, but his family thinks he was murdered for speaking out.
The newly created award was given by the new Kenyan government, through its National Commission on Human Rights.
"Obviously, I think with the new regime in Kenya, and with the former regime giving this whole thing such a ridiculous, phony spin, they are doing this to acknowledge that he was assassinated," said relative Don Kaiser, a longtime Catholic from Hudson. "It's their way of trying to make amends. The reason they're doing this is because of past injustices."
"The people of Kenya knew what he did for them, and that's what's important," Kaiser said, adding that the stance of the government is secondary in that regard. The majority of Kenyan people have always shown their gratitude to him and his work. "We appreciate that fact. Deep down it's what the people think, not the government."
The family has retained attorneys and continues to fight the assertion that John Kaiser, a U.S. Mill Hill Missionary from the St. Cloud (Minn.) Diocese, committed suicide.
"It is nice that the Kenyan government wants to do this," Kaiser said, adding it would be even nicer if they'd be more forthright and overturn the official ruling of suicide, although that is unlikely.
"A couple of years back, the family did start a movement to overturn the absurd ruling that John's death was a suicide," Kaiser said. "It gained momentum for about a year, but since then we haven't heard anything, although we're still working on it.
"I don't know if they would ever admit that it was a government-sanctioned murder," Kaiser said, adding if that correction is ever made, "we'd just leave it at that. But I can't begin to guess if that would ever happen."
Kaiser said he was "shocked" that the United States government could be complicit in such a finding. "There are so many side issues; they don't have to dig up old wounds with their answer," Kaiser said, adding that the wheels of the Kenyan bureaucracy, like any other, move slowly in matters such as these.
A cousin from California, Fran Kaiser, who is John Kaiser's older brother, has acted as a liaison for the family and corresponds with its various members if there are any updates. He also travels to Kenya several times a year to help keep the ball rolling toward a new cause-of-death ruling. The Hudson family, which learned of the humanitarian award through a news dispatch, has not heard from their California relative since the announcement of the award.
"Fr. Kaiser stood firm in the face of intimidation and death threats," the Kenyan commission wrote in its posthumous nomination. "He never compromised or changed his position in the face of external pressure, but continued his struggle to protect and promote human rights in Kenya 'til the end of his days.
"It's almost like a public apology on behalf of the Kenyan government because of what their predecessors did," John Kaiser's niece, Mary Weaver of Fergus Falls, Minn., told the Associated Press.
In 2004, John Kaiser became one of only three or four alumni to be given another award -- from St. John's Preparatory School, in Collegeville, Minn. It's called the Lumen Gentium, which means "light of the world," Don Kaiser said.
The ceremony and banquet that accompanied the bestowing of the award saw a good turnout of family members, Kaiser added.
Earlier, John Kaiser earned a third honor, the Lost Society of Kenya's annual human rights award. About a decade ago, another foreign priest was killed who had worked actively for human rights in Kenya. "John took up the torch," Don Kaiser said. "He became a figurehead and he began getting (the notoriety) from the press."
Don Kaiser recalls John Kaiser as a caring mentor who possessed the necessary qualities to do the mission work that apparently resulted in his death. "He was a kind, gentle man."
Many called the death a political assassination and at the time of Kaiser's death the FBI was ordered to assist Kenyan officials with their investigation.
The human rights work he did won him many supporters, but also enemies, Kaiser said.
Don and John Kaiser grew up together in Minnesota. "John was a teenager and I was a little kid. He was always willing to take time to show us around and sort of take us under his wing," Kaiser said, adding that he was impressed that someone so much older would take the time. "That's when I came to realize how kind he was."
"He knew that eventually he was going to be eliminated, I think," Kaiser said. "He was as agitated as he was (right before death) because he knew something was going to happen."
The Kenyan government had tried to deport Kaiser, but relented after intervention by Kenya's Catholic bishops and members of the media.
It is speculated that John Kaiser may have been killed because of alleged involvement as a witness against the government in a scandal case. He had counseled two girls, who accused a prominent government district officer of rape, to take their case to court.
An autopsy found that the shotgun used to kill Kaiser was of the type issued to the police and the Kenya Wildlife Services.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2006