The day a Nakuru DC was charged for the murder of Robert Ouko
Former Nakuru District Commissioner Jonah Anguka.
The murder of Dr. Robert Ouko perhaps stands as one of the most intriguing cases which to this day has never been put to rest.
The case in itself was full of twists and turn with the government bringing in help from the New Scotland Yard and also setting up inquiries and commissions that would be able to get to the bottom of the matter.
At the end, Former Nakuru District Commissioner Jonah Anguka was the only person who was arrested, charged and later acquitted of the murder of Dr. Robert Ouko. At the time, he was a man who wielded so much power and was very influential in Nakuru.
Jonah Anguka’s troubles began on 10th December 1991 after he was formally charged with Ouko’s murder.
Anguka’s trials came when the government of the day was stuck between a murder and politics with some saying Ouko’s murder was a political assassination.
Anguka faced two trials in a span of three years, the first terminated after the death of Justice Hussein Abdalla in November 1992 before he could deliver his ruling.
Another trial was soon started in 1994. Jonah Anguka had been a close confidant to Dr. Robert Ouko and Anguka’s wife Susan Anguka had been Dr. Ouko’s personal assistant while he served at the Foreign Affairs office.
In an interview on August 25, 2015 on Casefiles, Mr. Anguka says that he owes his appointment as the Nakuru District Commissioner to Dr. Robert Ouko.
“The President lived in the District (Nakuru) and as you may know the position to a district commissioner is a political appointee and therefore you would need some political input to be a District Commissioner and my input came from non-other than Dr. Robert Ouko who was my Member of Parliament in Kisumu” he said.
In 1994 he was acquitted by Justice Aganyanya who said that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to find him guilty.
Anguka later fled the country in fear of his life and is yet to return to Kenya.