The day Bethuel Kiplagat cried uncontrollably

Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission chairman Bethuel Kiplagat wipes tears at the NTV newsroom during an interview. FILE PHOTO | COURTESY OF NTV

As one of chief peace campaigners and mediators of conflicts in Kenya and the Horn of Africa, it cannot be gainsaid that Bethuel Kiplagat had nerves of steel.

He took his campaigns to hotbeds of conflict, including war-wracked Somalia and Sudan, where the faint-hearted could not set foot.

EMOTIONS

But while Kiplagat had a hard external body, inside, he had a soft heart and soft emotions.

During an interview at the NTV newsroom in 2009, the then head of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission wept uncontrollably when asked what he knew about the death of former Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko.

Christabel Ouko (wife of the late Robert Ouko) and Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat during the official opening of the DrRobert Ouko Memorial Library on May 8, 2014. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Mr Ouko was a close family friend, Mr Kiplagat said.

“I’m willing to go anywhere to know who killed my brother Ouko. His family has a lot of trust in me,” he said as he tried to fight back tears.

He added the friendship with Mr Ouko’s family still exists as he is a member of the Ouko Foundation.

INQUIRY

Mr Kiplagat had to ask for a break in the recording to let him recover his composure

He said he was among the few senior officials who responded to summons by the Ouko Commission of Inquiry, which was set up in 1991 to establish the cause of death of the late Foreign Affairs minister.

Mr Ouko was murdered and his partially burnt body found at Got Alila, near his Koru home, in February 1990, a few days after he had been reported missing.

The inquiry was terminated by the then president Daniel Moi in November 1991.