[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 124 (Friday, October 6, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10092-S10095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 146--A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION CONDEMNING 
   THE ASSASSINATION OF FATHER JOHN KAISER AND OTHERS IN KENYA, AND 
CALLING FOR A THOROUGH INVESTIGATION TO BE CONDUCTED IN THOSE CASES, A 
REPORT ON THE PROGRESS MADE IN SUCH AN INVESTIGATION TO BE SUBMITTED TO 
     CONGRESS BY DECEMBER 15, 2000, AND A FINAL REPORT ON SUCH AN 
        INVESTIGATION TO BE MADE PUBLIC, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself and Mr. Grams) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 146

       Whereas Father John Kaiser, a Catholic of the Order of the 
     Mill Hill Missionaries and a native of Minnesota, who for 36 
     years served as a missionary in the Kisii and Ngong Dioceses 
     in the Republic of Kenya and advocated the rights of all 
     Kenyans, was shot dead on Wednesday, August 23, 2000;
       Whereas Father Kaiser was a frequently outspoken advocate 
     on issues of human rights and against the injustice of 
     government corruption in Kenya;
       Whereas fellow priests report that Father Kaiser spoke to 
     them of his fear for his life on the night before his 
     assassination;
       Whereas the murders of Father Stallone, Father Graife, and 
     Father Luigi Andeni, all of Marsabit Diocese in Kenya, the 
     circumstances of the murder of Brother Larry Timors of Nakaru 
     Diocese in Kenya, the murder of Father Martin Boyle of 
     Eldoret Diocese, and the murders of other local human rights 
     advocates in Kenya have not yet been fully explained, nor 
     have the perpetrators of these murders been brought to 
     justice;
       Whereas the report of a Kenyan governmental commission, 
     known as the Akiwumi Commission, on the government's 
     investigation into tribal violence between 1992 and 1997 in 
     Kenya's Great Rift Valley has not yet been released in spite 
     of several requests by numerous church leaders and human 
     rights organizations to have the Commission's findings 
     released to the public;
       Whereas, after Father Kaiser's assassination, documents 
     were found on his body that he had intended to present to the 
     Akiwumi Commission;
       Whereas the nongovernmental Kenyan Human Rights Commission 
     has expressed fear that the progress achieved in Kenya during 
     the last few years in the struggle for democracy, the rule of 
     law, respect for human rights, and meeting the basic needs of 
     all

[[Page S10093]]

     Kenyans is jeopardized by the current Kenyan government; and
       Whereas the 1999 Country Report on Human Rights released by 
     the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the 
     Department of State reports that the Kenyan Government's 
     ``overall human rights record was generally poor, and serious 
     problems remained in many areas; while there were some signs 
     of improvement in a few areas, the situation worsened in 
     others.'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) condemns the violent deaths of Father John Kaiser and 
     others who have worked to promote human rights and justice in 
     the Republic of Kenya and expresses its outrage at those 
     deaths;
       (2) calls for a thorough investigation of those deaths that 
     includes other persons in addition to the Kenyan authorities;
       (3) calls on the Secretary of State, acting through the 
     Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and 
     Labor, to prepare and submit to Congress, by December 15, 
     2000, a report on the progress made on investigating these 
     killings, including, particularly, a discussion of the 
     actions taken by the Kenyan government to conduct an 
     investigation as described in paragraph (2);
       (4) calls on the President to support investigation of 
     these killings through all diplomatic means; and
       (5) calls for the final report of such an investigation to 
     be made public.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, colleagues, I rise to today to offer a 
resolution calling for thorough investigation into the murder of Father 
John Kaiser, a Catholic missionary from Minnesota who was brutally 
murdered in Kenya last month, and requiring the State Department to 
report to Congress on the progress of the investigation by December 
15th, and to make public the final findings of the investigation.
  For those of you who know little of Father John Kaiser, let me just 
say this: Father Kaiser was an amazing man. One of those rare 
individuals who found his calling early in life, he remained dedicated 
to that calling throughout his life. A catholic of the Order of the 
Mill Hill Missionaries, Father Kaiser served as a missionary in Kenya 
for 36 years. Born in Minnesota in 1932 to a German father and Irish 
mother, from 1954-1957, prior to being ordained, he had served his own 
country in the U.S. Army training paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne.
  Those who knew Father Kaiser recall him as humble and soft-spoken 
with totally selfless zeal for the service of others. In Kenya Father 
Kaiser was an outspoken advocate on the issue of human rights and 
injustice, and advocated those rights on behalf of all Kenyans. In 
March of this year Father Kaiser was awarded the ``Award for 
Distinguished Service in the Support of Human Rights'' by the Law 
Society of Kenya. This is the highest award given by the Law Society 
and it is usually awarded to three people annually--this year Father 
Kaiser was the sole recipient. I have a copy of the speech given by the 
Law Society in honor of Father Kaiser and I will ask that this speech 
be inserted in the Record. I'd also like to note that earlier this week 
in St. Paul, Minnesota Father Kaiser was posthumously awarded the twin 
cities International Citizen Award.
  Father Kaiser spoke frequently against the injustice of government 
corruption in Kenya and some believe this is what led to his death. In 
1992 Father Kaiser was confronted for his political activism against 
corruption. At an inquiry into why tribal clashes killed hundred in the 
run-up to Kenya's first multiparty election in 1992, Kaiser had 
testified that two Cabinet ministers had encouraged the strife in a 
ploy to drive those in opposition off their land. After accusing high-
level government officials of stealing land from the poor, he was 
arrested last year and threatened with deportation. His most recent 
confrontation with a powerful Kenyan involved Minister of State Julius 
Sunkuli, considered by many to be the current Kenya President's 
personal preference as a successor. Working with the Kenya chapter of 
the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Father Kaiser had been 
helping a female parishioner who claimed that Mr. Sunkuli raped her 
three years ago when she was 14 and fathered her child. Father Kaiser 
was killed one week before the court case was due to begin. A few days 
later, the young women dropped the charge.
  Father Kaiser's death is a manifestation of the corruption and 
injustice rampant in Kenya today. In its annual survey issued two weeks 
ago, the Transparency International watchdog organization named Kenya 
the ninth-most corrupt country in the world, on par with Russia. In 
Kenya, church leaders bemoan the fact that they are told to stay out of 
politics. They argue that what the government calls politics--promoting 
human rights, social and economic justice--is part and parcel of their 
mission. Mr. President, colleagues, I believe the position of the 
leadership in Kenya is not unusual; religious persecution is up around 
the world because religious mandates such as promoting human rights, 
social and economic justice, are inherently political. We must speak up 
about this case not only to find the truth about Father Kaiser's death 
and to bring some relief to his family, but also to let Kenya and the 
world know that the United States does not condone Kenya's behavior.

  An investigation is underway for the killer of Father Kaiser. The 
Kenyan Attorney General requested the help of the FBI in the 
investigation and today three FBI agents are in Kenya. The U.S. 
Ambassador has also met with the Kenyan Foreign Minister and the Kenyan 
Attorney General. This is a good start. I am hopeful that the State 
Department will continue to keep a close eye on this case. We must 
express our outrage at the violent death of Father John Kaiser, as well 
as the brutal murder of other activists fighting against injustice in 
Kenya. And we must demand a thorough investigation into their deaths. 
Prominent human rights groups and organizations like Transparency 
International, report that in Kenya corruption reaches to the highest 
level of government. It is for that reason that any investigation must 
include persons other than the Kenyan authorities and its final report 
must be made public. That is what I call for in the Resolution I am 
offering today with my colleague from Minnesota. I urge you to join us 
in your support, not only for the family of Father Kaiser and the 
others who lost their lives fighting injustice in Kenya but for the 
countless victims who have given their lives fighting injustice 
worldwide.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Law Society speech 
honoring Father Kaiser be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

      Law Society of Kenya--Statement in Support of the Award for 
 Distinguished Service in the Promotion of Human Rights to Father John 
            Anthony Kaiser for the Year 2000, March 11, 2000

       This year's Law Society of Kenya Awards ceremony is a rare 
     departure from its young tradition in that we have only one 
     recipient. But that man is rare, indeed, one of a kind. His 
     name is Father John Anthony Kaiser. And it is a name we have 
     all heard.
       In conferring upon him the Society's award for 
     Distinguished Service in the Promotion of human rights for 
     the year 2000, we of the Society consider ourselves specially 
     honored to have known and dealt with this man of God who, 
     like the Biblical Elijah, is a voice of stern rebuke to all 
     those that trouble the people and think it a little matter to 
     deny sovereign citizens their God-given right to live, move 
     and have. To them, he is a poisonous troublemaker, an 
     unwelcome meddler and a pain in the flesh. But to us and to 
     all those that love life and liberty, he is a stalwart 
     defender of the defenseless and a man eminently deserving of 
     honor.
       In his life Father Kaiser has lived for and upheld two 
     ideals namely the universality of human rights and the 
     principle that Kenya citizenship appeals and protects all 
     Kenyan in every part of the Republic of Kenya. In upholding 
     these noble truths in the 1990s in Kenya Father Kaiser 
     repeatedly found himself in trouble. Not that Father Kaiser 
     is a man who goes out of his way to court trouble. To the 
     contrary, he is a retiring, humble and soft-spoken ``Mzee.'' 
     He is a simple man without pretensions. Seeing him on a 
     normal day one could easily dismiss him for just another 
     tired old man. Though a tall one.
       Those who know him will say he has a totally selfless zeal 
     for the service of others. But they will also tell you that 
     he is a man of singular candour. He is honest and forthright 
     in speech almost to a fault. He would speak that 
     uncomfortable truth with a startling naivete that at once 
     sets you thinking and charms you to a new respect for the 
     man.
       Born in Minnesota, United States of America in 1932 to a 
     German father and Irish mother, the future Father Kaiser 
     attended a one-roomed school for eight years before he went 
     to a Benedictine secondary school.
       After a two-year stint at a junior college where he studied 
     Greek and Latin, he joined the U.S. Army for some three 
     years. His true calling was elsewhere and he quit to join the 
     St. Louis College where he studied theology and philosophy. 
     This was to be followed by some four years across the 
     Atlantic, studying to become a priest at St. Joseph's Mill

[[Page S10094]]

     Hill College. Father Kaiser was in 1964 posted to Kenya and 
     specifically to the Kisii Catholic Diocese to which he 
     dedicated 30 years of exemplary and emulable service mostly 
     in the humble hills and valleys of Gusiiland, away from any 
     sort of public limelight. Everywhere he went he exhibited the 
     best missionary spirit of uplifting enlightening and 
     supporting the poor. A strong man physically, he worked with 
     joyful energy setting up churches wherever he went sometimes 
     single-handedly. So thoroughly did he immerse himself in the 
     daily living of the locals that he speaks Ekegussi with 
     a fluency that would put most native speakers of the 
     language to shame. He became in a real sense a much loved 
     if not revered `Omogaka' to the Abagusii among whom he 
     lived and served.
       Come 1993, Father Kaiser was sent to the Ngong Catholic 
     Diocese his first appointment being to the fateful Maela 
     Refugee Camp for the internally victims of the infamous 
     Tribal Clashes. It was while at Maela that he witnessed at 
     even closer hand some of the most dastardly and heinous acts 
     of man's inhumanity to man. Freeborn Kenyans who had been 
     violently and murderously driven out of homes they had lived 
     in all their lives were reduced to the most abject and 
     dehumanizing poverty. He saw disease, despair, hunger and the 
     elements ravish men and women; the young and the aged alike 
     whose only crime was the biological and historical accident 
     of having been born into the `wrong' tribes. Father Kaiser 
     busied himself in trying to alleviate in what small ways he 
     could the anguish of those unfortunate.
       It was while in situ at Maela, and while lawfully engaged 
     in Christian service quite in consonance with the oft 
     repeated credo of being mindful of the welfare of fellow 
     Kenyans that the fell foul of the ubiquitous and often 
     tyrannical Provincial Administration.
       The existence of the Maela Refugee Camp had become an acute 
     embarrassment to the government which was not so keen on 
     having the shocking truth of ethnic cleansing exposed to the 
     watching world. The camp was an eyesore abominable and 
     damning to the Government. Some evil genius in the 
     administration hatched the plan to erase evidence of the very 
     existence of the Camp. Thus, on the 27th of December 1994, 
     those hapless Kenyans, once betrayed, raped, and 
     dispossessed, were betrayed a second time. They were 
     descended upon in a whirlwind government operation that broke 
     up the camp and bundled its inhabitants into trucks that 
     would dump them in stadiums, abandoned playing fields and 
     roadsides in the Central Province. The same bright mind in 
     government had now invented a new term with which these 
     unfortunate victims were baptized: Land Speculators.
       The Naivasha District Officer who spearheaded the Maela 
     mop-up was livid that among those at the camp and who 
     witnessed the wanton dehumanization of the refugees was 
     Father Kaiser. For merely being there and not approving of 
     what the officers of government were doing, Father Kaiser was 
     violently assaulted by those agents of our government, 
     handcuffed, as a common criminal would be removed from the 
     scene. He was held under house arrest with armed men in 
     guard. State-sponsored terrorism is no respecter of persons 
     even when they are harmless parish priests. Shortly after 
     Maela, Father Kiser was posted to Lologorian Parish in Trans 
     Mara District. And trouble followed him there. It is an 
     abiding if tragic fact of this country's sociopolitical 
     landscape that no place is safe or tranquil for any honest 
     man of pure convictions. Wherever such people are, the 
     tyrants, sycophants, rapist and land grabbers that dot 
     Kenya's public life will feel uneasy and attempt to make life 
     unbearable for them.
       True to his prophetic calling as a voice for the voiceless 
     and defender of the defenseless among his flock, Father 
     Kaiser found himself on a collision cause with those who had 
     oppressed, displaced, dispossessed and marginalized whole 
     clans of the Maasai in an orgy of systematic and 
     avaricious land-grabbing. His consistent and conscientious 
     stance against this and other evils and ills in Trans Mara 
     was fast gaining a formidable horde of enemies at all 
     levels of the power structure. No less than a powerful 
     cabinet minister saw the hand of good Father Kaiser in 
     allegations of rape or defilement leveled by young girls 
     against the said minister. There is of course no question 
     that it is in the nature of Father Kaiser to insist and 
     demand that any man, no matter his rank, who proves to be 
     a pestilential monster against nubile girls must face 
     justice. It is a very Christian demand.
       Father Kaiser's gift and burden has been his unshakable 
     commitment to truth and justice. It is therefore not 
     surprising that when the Commission appointed to investigate 
     the causes of the ethnic cleansing under the Chairmanship of 
     Court of Appeal Judge Akiwuni got down to business, he 
     appeared to testify as to what he saw, experienced and heard.
       In his painfully forthright way, the priest told the 
     Commission the horrible things he had witnessed. He recounted 
     tales heart rendering in their pain and outrageous that they 
     should be true. Unquestionably, he was a witness of truth. 
     His testimony was one of a man with a deep and abiding need 
     to see the demons of our national shame exorcised, the ghosts 
     of our innocent dead compatriots finally laid to rest and the 
     tears of their beloved wiped dry at last.
       Inevitably, he categorically and bluntly told the 
     Commission that on the basis of the facts in his possession, 
     responsibility for the horror that was the clashes lay at the 
     highest echelons of state. Mincing no words, he fingered the 
     very heart of State power as the first culprit in this crime 
     against Kenya holding the Government and its trusted 
     lieutenants responsible. Father Kaiser mentioned dates, 
     names, places and times.
       It is a monumental irony that detailed and useful as Father 
     Kaiser's testimony was, the Commission thought it violated 
     some in-house rules against mentioning the Head of State and 
     promptly expunged the same from its record.
       Whether offensive to the rules of the Commission or not, 
     and shorn of all the trappings, technicalities and 
     complexities of procedure, Father Kaiser's experiences and 
     observations in his own words are admissible in the Tribunal 
     of Truth and that of public opinion and, we trust, will some 
     day find judicial admission when those who threatened to 
     dismember Kenya are finally brought to book. His courage, 
     boldness and candor in saying it as it really is cannot have 
     been in vain.
       It is in the aforegoing context that we view the attempt by 
     the Kenya government to deport our hero in late 1999. A day 
     after his testimony at the Commission, the agents of terror 
     that he had named and shamed made a public threat that Father 
     Kaiser would be deported from Kenya. Could what followed be 
     related to these threats? Still smarting from the priest's 
     insistent voice of conscience, someone suddenly remembered 
     that this cleric who may pass for an Ompgusii, a Maasai, a 
     Kalenjin or a Kikuyu and who had lived in Kenya for as long 
     as we have been a republic, was not a Kenyan and, by reason 
     of his inadvertent failure to renew his work permit was 
     deserving of immediate deportation. Evidently our laws on 
     citizenship are in urgent need of revision. For, if Father 
     Kaiser does not qualify for citizenship, who does?
       The move by the Government was amateurish, its sinister and 
     vindictive motivation too transparent to miss. There was an 
     immediate chorus of condemnation of the government's 
     persecution of the priest from many quarters including 
     Catholic Bishops, the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the 
     American Embassy. We are happy to recall the Law Society of 
     Kenya added its voice in demanding that his permit be 
     renewed. We are happier to note with a certain satisfaction 
     that, left with no choice, Government relented and, as you 
     can see, Father Kaiser is still here with us.
       The life and times of Father John Anthony Kaiser stand out 
     as a study in courage, determination and sacrifice on behalf 
     of the weak, oppressed and downtrodden. He has had the 
     loftiness of ideals to speak out against social ills and 
     defend the native rights and dignity of mankind in the face 
     of callus and blood-chilling abuse. He has paid the price of 
     his convictions in being beaten, arrested, insulted and 
     hounded but has remained true to his conscience. He has stood 
     up to tyrants big and petty and won many battles for which 
     the humble men and women of Kenya for whom he has striven are 
     the happier. And in all this he has retained his cool and has 
     urged victims of violence not to retaliate in kind. Indeed, 
     he is on record as still loving and still praying for his 
     persecutors.
       He does not consider himself a civil rights worker. He 
     would not call himself a human rights activist let alone its 
     champion. He would not admit to all his achievements, which 
     have emboldened and inspired many to love truth, cherish 
     liberty and fight for human rights. Father Kaiser says he is 
     just a simple parish priest. We agree. And we honor him.

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a resolution 
along with Senator Wellstone which addresses a very tragic event in 
Kenya involving a native son of Minnesota, Father John Kaiser.
  Sixty-seven years ago, Father Kaiser was born in Perham, Minnesota 
and grew up in Maine Township near Fergus Falls. He attended St. John's 
Prep in Collegeville, along with former Senator Dave Durenberger, and 
St. John's University. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1964 after 
attending St. Joseph's Seminary in England.
  His thirty-six years in the East African country of Kenya was spent 
building schools and helping the people. He was a strong supporter of 
human rights and justice for the poor and oppressed. He was their 
spokesman and a highly visible reminder to the Kenyan government of the 
injustices he sought to remedy. His courage in the face of death 
emboldened and strengthened the resolve of others in the human rights 
community to stand for principle--for law and order, decency and 
respect.
  The cattle herders and farmers in the Great Rift Valley, the helpless 
young girls who may have suffered abuse at the hands of government 
officials and the dedicated members of Father Kaiser's Mill Hill 
Mission have lost a champion--but not the principles on which he 
stood--justice and equity and human rights for all.

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  I have addressed this issue at the highest level with Secretary of 
State Madeleine Albright during a recent Foreign Affairs Committee 
meeting. The resolution of this United States citizen's death is 
important to Kenya's credibility in the world community. We intend to 
see his assassins quickly brought to trial, and our Resolution reflects 
the desire of Congress to step-up the investigation into his death. I 
join Bishop John Njue, Chairman of the Kenyan Catholic Episcopal 
Conference in saying ``Do not be afraid''--we are with you.

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