Kenya - interview

I forgive my brother's killers, says priest on anniversary of post-election slaughter

Article published on the 2009-01-01 Latest update 2009-01-01 16:50 TU

The bodies of victims in Kisumu
(Photo: Anna Koblanck)

Roman Catholic priest Chrispin Oneko was in the United States on New Year's Day 2008, when he got word that his brother Vincent had been shot dead in the election-related violence which swept Kenya. On the anniversary of the slaughter, he told RFI that he has forgiven his brother's killers, saying "it's no use harbouring hatred".

A year ago Father Chrispin Oneko was in the US state of Kentucky when hereceived a call telling him that his brother Vincent had been shot dead. 

Violence had erupted in his native Kenya, following a hotly contested election result.

"They told me he had been shot," Oneko says. "I thought he must have been involved in politics and I had told them not to get involved in any politics." 

But he soon found out that Vincent had not been politically active.  Oneko says that a family fleeing the violence had found refuge in his parents' house. 

"The pursuers followed them and demanded that my parents give [up] these people.   

Father Oneko's family, members of the Luo tribe, were willing to take in the people who were being tracked down, even though they were not Luo. 

They pleaded with the pursuers to let the people go free. 

But the pursuers bolted the door from the outside and torched the building. 

Vincent was visiting upcountry for the holidays. He ran over to the house, found it on fire and began trying to break down the door. 

"He tried to break the door [down], not knowing that those people were still around. And as he broke the door, and as my parents and the rest of those who were inside came out, they shot him. And from what I heard they shot him four or more times and he died on the spot."

Nobody was arrested. Oneko says he was told the perpetrators were police officers. 

Oneko bears no grudge and says he forgave his brother's murderers from the outset. 

"You cannot solve a bad thing with a bad thing. You use something good to solve something that is bad," he says.

"In fact, I told my parents that the only thing to forge ahead is to forgive those people ....  and I think they also followed that, although it was very hard for them....  But in the course of time, as they healed, they forgave them."

"There is no use harbouring hatred, because that only hurts the other fellow," says the priest. 

Oneko praises Kenyans for "doing a tremendous job" in calming things down since last year. 

"All along these tribes, these people have been living with each other peacefully.  Since [the violence] they have worked it out so peacefully, so nicely."