Plans are underway to airlift the remains of the late Foreign Affairs minister Dr Robert Ouko’s brother, Barrack Mbajah from the United States for burial at his Nyahera home in Kisumu county.

Yesterday, Maurice Seda, the family’s spokesman told People Daily that the deceased’s family was meeting in the United States to finalise travel arrangements before issuing the exact date for the burial.

“His wife and children who are in America have informed us to wait for a communication on the way forward.

But as a family we are preparing to receive the body,” Seda said. The late Mbajah had set up his home in their ancestral village of Nyahera.

His brother, the late Ouko, had relocated to Koru in Muhoroni constituency within the same county where he was buried in 1990.

The house was later sold to a missionary who converted it into an orphanage.

Seda and his younger brother, Collins Seda have also set up their homes next to the late Mbajah’s homestead.

A sombre mood engulfed the late Mbajah’s homestead as political leaders, friends and relatives trooped to condole with the larger Ouko family. 

Kisumu county governor Anyang Nyong’o, Kisumu West Member of Parliament Olago Aluoch and Women Representative Rosa Buyu are among the leaders who sent their messages of condolence to the family.

“We have lost a vibrant son of the county who has contributed immensely to our growth.

We hope that even with his demise, the government will still ensure that the Ouko family gets justice that he died crying for,” Nyong’o said.

Buyu said: “Mbajah’s death diminished hopes of unraveling mystery surrounding the death of the late Foreign Affairs minister Dr Robert Ouko 30 years ago”.  

Mbajah, 79,  died in an American hospital on Monday where he had been undergoing treatment after suffering a stroke five years ago.

Seda said his brother’s health started deteriorating after he was detained and tortured at Nyayo house for one week in 1990 soon after the gruesome murder of his brother.

Before he was flown to America, Mbajah had made unsuccessful attempts to reach out to President Uhuru Kenyatta to present to him what he termed as serious dossier that would help in closing the chapter of the late Ouko’s murder.

Seda said, the late Mbajah had sworn affidavits with details of the perpetrators of the heinous act.