54-year-old Fr. Josiah Asa K’Okal, a Consolata Missionaries priest from Kenya’s Siaya County has mysteriously died in Venezuela. His lifeless body was discovered by police hanging from a tree in a forest area in Guara, Monagas state, on 2 January.
The discovery was made a day after Fr. Josiah being reported missing. He had left the Congregation’s House in Paloma Sector, Tucupita Municipality, on his bicycle at around 9AM, leaving his identification documents and cell phone inside the house.
The deceased was last seen on 1 January around 11AM when he visited residents of Janokosebe settlement on a section of the national highway.
Venezuelan authorities are yet to make an official statement on the possible cause of Fr. Josiah’s death, the Warao community from the Delta Amacuro State in Eastern Venezuela where he passionately served, demanding for a ‘serious and credible’ investigation into the death of the missionary.
BRK has exclusively established from Fr. Josiah’s family in Kenya that his remains will be interred in Venezuela in the Parish Church of St. José in Tucupita.
“We shall however have special masses here in Kenya, including two in our rural home in Gem Malele, Akala in Siaya County,” said the family member who spoke to BRK.
The main mass in Kenya will be on Thursday, 11 January, at a venue the family is yet to decide on.
Known as “Baré Mekoro” (Wise Father), Father K’Okal was born in Kenya, arrived in Venezuela in 1997, where he obtained Venezuelan nationality for his dedication and more than 20 years of service.
Recently, he dedicated his missionary life to serving the Warao indigenous people and the poorest people of the Amacuro Delta in Nabasanuka and Tucupita on the banks of the Orinoco River.