Celestine Ogutu, the eldest sister of the slain Kenyan teacher, working at Sky School in Dar-es-Salaam, was the last person in the family to learn of her brother’s death at the hands of Tanzanian security officers.
On October 29, when she watched news about the chaos that had erupted during the elections in Tanzania, she immediately thought of her younger brother John Okoth Ogutu, 33.
“I first called my mother to inquire whether she had heard from my brother Okoth. The response from my mother was, ‘I haven’t heard from him, please look for my son,’ and we ended the conversation,” said Ms Ogutu at their home in Kademba A location, Pap Gori in Alego Usonga.
Angeline Juma Ogutu holds John Ogutu's photo in Siaya County.
Photo credit: Elizabeth Ojina | Nation
She further narrated: “Immediately, I tried reaching my brother via WhatsApp, mostly, we communicated through social media. It was a short text, ‘Bro, are you safe?’ and it wasn’t replied. I did the same on another line, he had two different contacts; one for Kenya and another for Tanzania.”
The following day, on October 30, as she was about to enter church for a night vigil, Ms Ogutu noticed that a strange number with the +255-code tried reaching her 10 times.
“Before getting into the church, I opted to return the call, the voice on the other side was faint and tired. It was my elder maternal cousin; she inquired whether I was privy to what had happened. At first, I thought it was my mother who had passed on, she broke the news that it was my brother who was killed by security officers in Tanzania,” she narrated.
After some time, she managed to get a call from a friend of her deceased brother who witnessed the entire incident.
“He informed me that at dusk, on October 29, my brother had gone to Gaba shopping center in Dar-es-Salaam, not far from the area he stayed. They were rounded up by the officers who were quelling protests and they were shot and several people died around that area,” she went on.
Her brother’s friend managed to reach the cousin immediately while the bodies were still lying there.
“According to him, there were several bodies and the officers patrolled around the area for around two hours keeping watch over the corpses. After two hours, all the bodies were taken to Mwananyamala mortuary,” she added.
Having learned of his death at the hands of the Tanzanian security officials, Ms Ogutu began arrangements for a possible repatriation of the body back to Kenya for interment.
Through the friend who informed them of their kin’s death on October 29, and the Sky School administration where the deceased worked, they requested them to locate the body for a possible repatriation.
To their shock, the bodies of their kin and those of others who were allegedly killed by the officers were missing from Mwananyamala Mortuary.
“It is painful to learn that even after his killing, his body is nowhere to be found. I told the people who were helping in tracing the body to check keenly, I told them of the features to check. Sadly, they said only two bodies were preserved at the facility; an old man and a child, those are the ones that were recorded to have died during the protest,” said the distraught lady.
There are two narratives as to where the bodies are, which is a source of nightmares for the family. Ms Ogutu is pleading with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to step in and help establish where the remains of their kin are.
“The pain of losing a young man in a foreign land, add to the pain of not finding the body is too much to bear. My aged mother is in pain. Last year we buried our brother who was studying at the university, this year in May we buried our patriarch, today again our younger is gone,” she lamented in pain.
“My deceased brother’s friend told me that it is possible that the bodies were disposed either in a mass grave to conceal whatever had happened or they were dumped in the ocean or one of the large rivers,” she lamented.
