Date is set for Fr Kaiser inquest

A public inquest into the death of Father John Kaiser three years ago begins next month.

A Naivasha court will conduct it beginning August 11.

Following orders by the Attorney-General last April that the inquest be held, the Naivasha Senior Principal Magistrate Martin Muya was given the file on the Mill Hill missionary on June 5.

Yesterday, Bishop Cornelius Korir, the Kenya Episcopal Conference chairman, appealed to anyone with information on the death to contact the church.

He told a press conference in Nairobi that the court should determine the cause of death.

When Fr Kaiser's body was found in a thicket on the Nakuru-Nairobi road on August 24, 2000, there was a public outcry.

His head had been partly blown off by a bullet fired from his own gun which was also recovered at the scene.

Investigations by the police and the American Federal Bureau of Investigations concluded that the priest committed suicide by shooting himself.

But the theory was dismissed by the Catholic Church and human rights advocates who maintained that Fr Kaiser was murdered.

They urged the government to set up an inquest but the request was turned down then and was only granted last April when the AG issued the orders.