Nairobi, Kenya - A Roman Catholic priest denied on Tuesday accusations that he helped organise the killing of a U.S. missionary whose unexplained death has been one of Kenya's most high profile murder cases.
Catholic missionary John Kaiser, a champion of the rural poor and an outspoken critic of former President Daniel arap Moi and his government, was found shot in the head on a Kenyan roadside on Aug. 28, 2000.
Parliamentarian Paul Muite told an inquest into his death on Monday that Father Emmanuel Ngugi, a Kenyan, had lured the missionary out of a house in Nairobi and into the hands of his murderers.
Ngugi denied the charge at the hearing on Tuesday.
"I want to make it clear that never ever did I call Father Kaiser, nor did I have his phone number to call him," he said.
"Any statement made to the contrary is a total lie, malicious and destructive", he told the Nairobi inquest.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded in a 2001 report that Kaiser had probably shot himself with his own gun. His body was found lying near his white Toyota truck, beside a road in Naivasha, 40 miles (65 km) northwest of Nairobi.
But Kenya's Roman Catholic clergy have always rejected this, saying the priest lived in constant fear for his life and had firmly ruled out the possibility he might ever commit suicide.
Kaiser, from Underwood, Minnesota, had frequently accused Moi's government of instigating tribal clashes. His friends say they suspect his killing was politically motivated.
Shortly before his death he also accused then government minister Julius Sunkuli of sexual offences against teenage girls. Sunkuli vigorously denied the charges and one of the girls withdrew legal proceedings she had launched against him.
Muite, a friend of Kaiser's, told the inquest on Monday the actual killing was carried out by four Kenyan police officers.
A police spokesman declined to comment on the allegations.
Kaiser was 67 at the time of his death and had been a missionary in Kenya for 35 years.