Jonah Anguka

Anguka graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1977 with a degree in political science. He served in Kenya's provincial administration during which time he was given paramilitary training at the Embakasi General Service Unit (GSU) Training Centre. Later he served in various postings as a district officer before becoming the District Commissioner (DC) to Nakuru in 1986. As such he was part of Kenya's internal security and intelligence organisation and directly responsible to Hezekiah Oyugi, then the Permanent Secretary, Provincial and Internal Security.

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Kenya's then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Robert Ouko, was murdered on the morning of 13 February 1990, shot through the head, at the foot of Got Alila Hill, some 2.4 km from his country residence in Koru, near Kisumu, north western Kenya.{{Cite web|title=What Did Jonah Anguka Know And What Did He Hide?|url=http://www.kenyaunsolved.com/anguka.html|website=www.kenyaunsolved.com|access-date=2020-05-24}}{{Cite web|title=The Star|url=https://www.the-star.co.ke/|website=The Star|language=en-KE|access-date=2020-05-25}}

Anguka's wife, Mrs Susan Ngeso Anguka was Dr Ouko's Personal Assistant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also farmed land adjacent to Ouko's farm in Koru.{{Cite web|title=What did Jonah Anguka know about the killing of Ouko?|url=https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-02-22-what-did-jonah-anguka-know-about-the-killing-of-ouko/|website=The Star|language=en-KE|access-date=2020-05-24}}{{Cite web|title=kenyaunsolved.com|url=http://www.kenyaunsolved.com/|website=www.kenyaunsolved.com|access-date=2020-05-25}} Ultimately, Jonah Anguka was named in connection with the murder of Dr Ouko by five different authorities and individuals.{{Cite web|title=Anguka recalls his days|url=https://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/lifestyle/1214-420478-bbceeb/index.html|website=Daily Nation|language=en|access-date=2020-05-24}}{{Cite web|title=What did Jonah Anguka know about the killing of Ouko?|url=https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-02-22-what-did-jonah-anguka-know-about-the-killing-of-ouko/|website=The Star|language=en-KE|access-date=2020-05-24}}

On 18 November 1991, at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Ouko's murder the former Detective Superintendent John Troon who had led Scotland Yard’s investigation (at the request of the Kenyan government) into the killing, stated that, 'There is a possibility that Mr Anguka may have some involvement or knowledge' [of the murder.{{Cite web|title=What did Jonah Anguka know about the killing of Ouko?|url=https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-02-22-what-did-jonah-anguka-know-about-the-killing-of-ouko/|website=The Star|language=en-KE|access-date=2020-05-24}}

Troon was being questioned by Justice Akiwumi, Justice Gicheru and Bernard Chunga (State Prosecutor) during the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Dr Ouko's death when he raised the case for further investigation of Anguka. The transcript of the relevant hearing explains Troon's reasoning.{{cite web|url=http://www.kenyadocex.com/wiki-documentation31.html |title=Wiki documentation31 - Welcome to THE Kenya Document Exchange |accessdate=2011-03-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417133939/http://www.kenyadocex.com/wiki-documentation31.html |archivedate=17 April 2011 }}

Anguka was also named by the Kenyan police in a six-page section of their 'Further Investigations into the Death of the Late Dr Robert Ouko' in which they set out fourteen points as to why he should be considered a suspect.[http://kenyadocex.com/kenya-police-report-jonah-anguka.html Kenya Police: Further Investigations into the Disappearance and Subsequent Death of the late Hon Robert Ouko EGH M.P. as Recommended by The Troon Report] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124224042/http://kenyadocex.com/kenya-police-report-jonah-anguka.html |date=24 November 2011 }}

Ultimately, Jonah Anguka was named in connection with the murder of Dr Ouko by six different authorities and individuals. Others who named him included Dr Ouko's brother [http://kenyaunsolved.com/evidence/?p=190 Barrack Mbajah], Ouko's maid [http://kenyaunsolved.com/evidence/?p=195 Salina Were], and in an anonymous written allegation sent to the Kenya police in December 1991 entitled "Who Killed Dr. R.J. Ouko and Why?"{{Cite web |url=http://kenyaunsolved.com/evidence/?p=142 |title=Who Killed Dr R J Ouko and Why? |access-date=27 March 2011 |archive-date=6 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110306172924/http://kenyaunsolved.com/evidence/?p=142 |url-status=dead }}

Mr Justice Aganayana absolved Anguka, saying that. "The manner the heinous act (of killing Dr. Ouko) was planned and eventually executed… was so neat and professional that it could not have been undertaken by an ordinary person in the nature of the accused."{{cite book|last=Anguka|first=Jonah|title=Absolute Power: The Ouko Murder Mystery|year=1998|publisher=Pen Press Ltd (Uk) and United People of Kenya (UK and Kenya) |location=UK and Kenya|isbn=1-900796-01-5|pages=248}}

Judge Aganayana said, “… And given the time of the incident when the deceased is alleged to have left his home (around 3.00am) I wouldn't be convinced that after being massaged by Oddotte{{who|date=February 2013}} at 12.30am he (Anguka) would have left the house gone to Koru, removed the deceased from the house, taken him to some place where he was shot and then brought him to the scene and set his body on fire during that night, then went back at his house to be ready for duty at 7.15am…”{{cite book|last=Anguka|first=Jonah|title=Absolute Power: The Ouko Murder Mystery|year=1998|publisher=Pen Press Ltd (Uk) and United People of Kenya (Uk and Kenya|location=Uk and Kenya|isbn=1-900796-01-5|pages=248}}

In this statement Judge Aganyana however, made a critical mistake: the forensic evidence adduced by Scotland Yard proved that Dr Ouko had been killed at the scene where his body was found.{{cite web|title=Troons Final Report Paragraph 290 |url=http://www.kenyadocex.com/wiki-documentation34.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426051357/http://kenyadocex.com/wiki-documentation34.html |archivedate=26 April 2012 }}

For Cohen and Odhiambo, 'Anguka's partial and selective presence in the book was itself revealing.'{{cite book|last=David William Cohen|first=E. S. Atieno Odhiambo|title=The risks of knowledge: investigations into the death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990|year=2004|publisher=University of Ohio|pages=151}} They remarked on how Anguka, by his story, was present at so many of the key events during the search for Ouko and the investigation into his murder but silent about his presence at others. For them, how Anguka chose to write the story he was hardly present at all, except and especially when he could cast himself as a victim of the state'.{{cite book|last=David William Cohen|first=E. S. Atieno Odhiambo|title=The risks of knowledge: investigations into the death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990|year=2004|publisher=University of Ohio|pages=151}}

Professors Cohen and Odhiambo noted that Anguka was at the scene where the Dr Ouko's body was found within two hours of its discovery by the police. He was at Ouko's Koru home to answer the phone in Ouko's sitting room when Susan Anguka, his wife, called from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to tell him that the body had been found. He was the first to break the news of her husband's death to Mrs Ouko. He was at the airport to meet the Scotland Yard team and he introduced Detective Superintendent Troon to Hezerkiah Oyugi and told him the latter would oversee the investigation. He was with Troon when the safe was opened in Ouko's bedroom. He interposed himself as a translator when Ouko's maid Salina Were was interviewed by Troon. He was with the Kenyan pathologist at Got Alila Hill when Ouko's body was first examined and he was also in Nairobi when Scotland Yard's forensic scientist Dr Iain West undertook an autopsy.{{cite book|last=David William Cohen|first=E. S. Atieno Odhiambo|title=The risks of knowledge: investigations into the death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990|year=2004|publisher=University of Ohio|pages=150}}

Anguka did not mention in that he was at the airport to meet Troon's team, writing only, 'on 21 February New Scotland Yard detectives arrived'.{{cite book|last=Anguka|first=Jonah|title=Absolute Power: The Ouko Murder Mystery|year=1998|publisher=Pen Press Ltd (Uk) and United People of Kenya (Uk and Kenya|location=Uk and Kenya|isbn=1-900796-01-5|pages=70}}

Similarly, Cohen and Odhiambo suggested Anguka had 'largely airbrushed' his relationship with Hezekiah Oyugi (named by Scotland Yard as a prime suspect) from his account, noting that, 'the book is silent on Anguka's relationship, official and private, with Hezekiah Oyugi. His exceptional access to Oyugi had no reciprocal aspect in Anguka's telling,{{cite web|title=Murder at Got Alila|url=http://murderatgotalila.com/?p=885|website=Who killed Dr Robert Ouko?..and Why?|publisher=WPMS/INCA/CitizenTV}} and that silence certainly "tells" a stronger story than Jonah Anguka intended.'{{cite book|last=David William Cohen|first=E. S. Atieno Odhiambo|title=The risks of knowledge: investigations into the death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990|year=2004|publisher=University of Ohio|pages=149}}

During the Scotland Yard investigation into the murder, Selina's accounts were regarded as the most truthful as she was the last person to see the minister to his bedroom. Former Kisumu Town East MP Gor Sunguh says the death of the witness is a possible pointer to the end of the inquiry and the revelation of truth. Gor Sunguh, who chaired the commission that probed Ouko's death, says more than 100 witnesses have so far disappeared in questionable circumstances. He says this will make it impossible for Kenyans to ever find out the truth. However, some argue that truth will be known, considering that majority of the witnesses had spoken before various investigating bodies. Selina was one of the few remaining witnesses. Some of the living witnesses include former DC Jonah Anguka, Zablon Agallo who was an Administration Police officer, Ouko's bodyguard Gordon Okoth, Phillip Ogutu (the gate keeper), Eric Ouko and James Onyango K'Oyoo{{who|date=February 2013}}. Many witnesses have died in mysterious circumstances over two decades since Ouko's murder,{{cite web|title=Truth in Ouko's murder still a mirage 22 years on|url=http://www.the-star.co.ke/lifestyle/128-lifestyle/62323-truth-in-oukos-murder-still-a-mirage-22-years-on|work=The Star|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223010106/http://www.the-star.co.ke/lifestyle/128-lifestyle/62323-truth-in-oukos-murder-still-a-mirage-22-years-on|archivedate=23 February 2012|df=dmy-all}} however in a recent documentary series aired on Citizen TV in March 2017, the idea of the "mysterious deaths" surrounding the killing of Dr Robert Ouko has been robustly challenged.{{cite web|title=Murder at Got Alila|url=http://murderatgotalila.com/?p=899|website=Who killed DR Robert Ouko?..and Why?|publisher=WPMS/INCA/CitizenTV}}

Jonah Anguka continues to live in California, United States, is an active member of the local community and a fundraiser for social projects in the Western Kenya region.{{cite web|title=Marera Community Project|url=http://mareracshp.org/index.php?page=more_pictures&id=9}}

• Absolute Power: The Ouko Murder Mystery, Pen Press, London, 1998, {{ISBN|1-900796-01-5}}

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• Cohen, David William & Odhiambo, E. S. Atieno (2004). The Risks of Knowledge: Investigations into the Death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990. Ohio University Press. {{ISBN|0-8214-1597-2}}. [http://www.ohiou.edu/oupress/FW2004/cohen/]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/19991008182027/http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/Features/Anguka/index.html Book extracts from Absolute Power, a work exploring Ouko's death]
• [http://www.kenyaunsolved.com/anguka.html What Did Jonah Anguka Know And What Did He Hide?]

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