Any open-minded person who reads the report on Father John Kaiser's death - released in Nairobi on Thursday - will accept it, but rather grudgingly. For the conclusion that the American missionary committed suicide is not arrived at frivolously, thereby undermining the very platform upon which conspiracy theories of his death had been generated.

The suicide verdict is clearly a result of protracted, painstaking and professional investigation. All concrete leads were followed to the end. Everybody was interviewed whose name had been mentioned in connection with the death and who might have had a personal motive to harm or discredit him.

Also examined in detail was Fr Kaiser's life story for the past 40 years. There was every circumstantial evidence - including the American's mental health record - to corroborate the suicide conclusion.

The upshot is this. It seems there is much more evidence that the outspoken priest took his own life than that he was the victim of an assassin's bullet.

Yet the two theories are not necessarily in diametrical opposition. And the report leaves a lot of room for further speculation, even investigation. For the fact remains that during his last years, months, weeks and days, Father Kaiser stepped on very many sore toes.

Many high-powered politicians would have had motives to do him in. The report absolves them. And we must accept it as such. The allegation widespread in Nairobi throughout yesterday that the Moi Government in some way influenced the FBI to cover up for it is not backed by any evidence.

Although the case reminds us that Kenya has a long list of unresolved political assassinations, the aftermath of Fr Kaiser's death was different. The investigation was done by a party interested in affirming the murder theory. Its verdict in the opposite direction is, therefore, much more respectable than the verdicts of those who investigated the other deaths.

Nevertheless, although Fr Kaiser almost certainly shot himself, this does not prove that he was not forced to do it. It is very much on the cards that another person forced him onto his knees and - threatening worse consequences if he did not obey - convinced him to pump bullets into his own brain.

What appears to corroborate this piece of speculation is that the American priest did not leave any suicide note. That, of course, is no proof. Although it is usually the done thing, not all suicides leave such notes behind. What's more, it may have been an oversight connected with his mental condition.

The fact remains, however, that the report is not conclusive. There are numerous loose ends that need to be tied together if we are to put this controversy conclusively behind us. Perhaps the Catholic Church - given its refusal to go along with the FBI verdict - will take it upon itself to do the necessary follow-up?