John Robert Ouko (31 March 1931 – c. 13 February 1990) was a Kenyan politician who served two spells as Foreign Minister of Kenya: from 1979 to 1983 and from 1988 to 1990.

In 1958, he joined the Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, graduating in 1962 with a degree in Public Administration, Economics and Political Science.

Later that day, Ouko travelled to his country residence, a farm in Koru (some 300 km from Nairobi) near Kisumu, accompanied by his driver and a bodyguard.

His housemaid Selina Were Ndalo testified that she "was awakened at about 3 am by a noise similar to a slammed door but sufficiently loud enough to startle her awake"[6] and that she saw a white car turning at the bottom of the minister's driveway before driving off.

[9] Ouko's body was found later in the day on 13 February at approximately 1 pm by a local herdsboy Joseph Shikuku[10] (also named as 'Shikulu' and Shikuru' in both Troon's and other reports), at the foot of nearby Got Alila Hill, 2.8 km from Ouko's country home, but although he notified the local villagers of this (a fact supported by 'statements in support' given to Scotland Yard detectives by six other villagers) it was not reported to the police.

Public pressure led President Daniel arap Moi to ask British detectives from New Scotland Yard to investigate Ouko's death.

In paragraphs 101 and 102 Troon stated that, 'On Saturday 17 March my colleague Detective Sergeant Lindsay received a telephone call to meet a person in the Imperial Hotel, Kisumu.

Lindsay attended the venue and there met a person who identified himself as Professor Thomas A. Ogada, the Kenyan Ambassador to Switzerland', and that, 'Prof.

Ogada informed Lindsay that he had been directed by His Excellency the President to hand over to the Scotland Yard Officers a sealed envelope which he had brought with him from Switzerland.

The basis for Troon's theory was thus allegations passed to Scotland Yard at the direction of President Daniel arap Moi and made by a Domenico Airaghi and a Marianne Briner-Mattern (who made a witness statement to Troon on 22 March 1990), directors of BAK International, a company based in Switzerland that had tendered to Ouko when he was Minister for Industry to restart the Molasses Project in Kisumu.

All witness testimony prior to these dates had been based on the row in Ouko's family and allegations of corruption in the Kisumu Town Council.

Only in her third statement,[25] made some seven weeks after the investigation had begun did Dorothy Randiak testify regarding allegations surrounding the Kisumu Molasses Plant.

It was only at the end of her fourth statement, again made some seven weeks after Troon began his investigation, that Mrs Ouko mentioned a possible dispute over the Kisumu Molasses Project.

Although Troon's final report to the Kenyan authorities, delivered in August 1990, was not conclusive it did recommend further investigation into Ouko's murder and in particular 'enquiries and further interviews' in respect of Hezekiah Oyugi, a Permanent Secretary in Kenya's Internal Security Department; James Omino, an MP for Kisumu Town and a political opponent of Ouko at the 1988 election; and Nicholas Biwott, the Minister for Energy.

In the absence of any direct evidence as to who was responsible for the murder of Ouko, Troon based his entire theory on the basis of establishing a motive for the killing.

The allegation made some 12 years later during a Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry established in March 2003 to again look into the murder of Ouko, that Ouko had been banished by President Moi whilst on the visit to Washington, stripped of his ministerial rank, sent home on a different flight, his bodyguards dismissed, his passport removed on arrival in Nairobi, would also seem to be without foundation.

Passenger manifests and witness testimony prove that Ouko travelled back from Washington with the rest of the Kenyan delegation to Nairobi.

Cabinet papers, official records, and Ouko's own correspondence prove that ultimately all decisions relating to the Molasses Project were taken by the Kenyan Cabinet, record that both he and Nicholas Biwott were agreed on the need for the rehabilitation of the 'Molasses Project', and attest to the assistance Nicholas Biwott gave him and the co-operation between the two men.

[33] The allegation that Nicholas Biwott championed an alternative tender to receive a 'kickback' from the project is even more curious as the two companies concerned, the Italian firms ABB Teconomassio SpA and Teconomasio Italiano/Brown Boveri, were both introduced to minister Dalmas Otieno by Domenico Airgahi and both belonged to the same multinational group.

Dalmas Otieno, in a witness statement made 21 May 1990, stated, "I personally interviewed Mr Airaghi and I considered he was not competent to handle the project and knew nothing about Molasses.

"[34] Troon's reliance on the testimony of Domenico Airaghi and Marianne Briner-Mattern and his assessment that they were "truthful and honest" under "a reputable company" (Judicial Inquiry, 1990) has also been criticised in the light of subsequent revelations.

It was later to be revealed that for the entire period in which Dominic Airaghi was dealing with the Kenyan Government in respect of the Molasses Project he was on a bail, a convicted and sentenced criminal who had been found to have committed an offence of dishonesty.

The judge said of Marianne Briner, "who lived with Airgahi", that it would better to draw a "compassionate veil" over her testimony and commented on her "unreliability" as a witness.

[40] The use of four different names and two addresses in three years for the various entities of 'BAK', the company through which Airaghi and Briner-Mattern tendered for the Molasses Project, was also unknown to Troon at the time of his investigation although Dalmas Otieno, Kenya's Minister of Industry, gave evidence to Troon that 'BAK' was ultimately excluded from the Molasses Project because it was incompetent and in breach of contract.

'BAK Group Marianne Briner + Partner' was registered as a joint partnership on 13 February 1990,[41] the day that Robert Ouko was murdered.

At the same time as the insolvency proceedings in Switzerland, Airaghi and Briner-Mattern established PTA BAK Group International Consultants in Spain[43] but it too was subsequently to be struck off the corporate register.

After Ouko's murder, Domenico Airaghi and Marianne Briner-Mattern's claim for losses in relation to the 'Molasses Project' increased from $150,000 to $5.975 million.

Following the disbanding of the Gicheru Commission and the onset of the Kenyan police investigation, ten government officials, including Energy Minister Nicholas Biwott and head of internal security Hezekiah Oyugi, were detained for questioning in relation to the murder.

In March 2003 the newly elected government of Mwai Kibaki opened a new investigation into Ouko's death to be conducted by a parliamentary select committee.