A Collection of Open Source Reports
A recent report by the Nation Media Group, “The war at the heart of Kenya Wildlife Service” (see below) does not paint an image that the organization would be be proud of. The Kenya Wildlife Service unfortunately is characterized by the same integrity issues that beset all Kenya government and public agencies to a greater or lesser extent.
For an outsider, it is impossible to tell if the allegations made in the media report are corruption related or perhaps simply the result of regime change.
When Brigadier (Rtd) John Waweru was appointed (irregularly) as Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Director General in March 2019 by President Kenyatta, he made a number of internal changes amongst his management staff. It appears that a number of those promotions have now been dispatched by the Acting Director General Dr. Erastus Kanga with the old regime being returned.
Miscellaneous:
- It is of note that the recently appointed Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, Dr. Alfred Mutua, has remained silent over the past ten days.
2. Dr. Erastus Kanga, was appointed by “the government” as acting Director General of KWS just over one year ago. There has been no indication as to the progress of the competitive recruitment process that the government will follow in finding a permanent replacement.
3. Nancy Kabete, mentioned in the below article, was the Deputy Director Security under DG Waweru. That position no longer appears as under that of senior management. However, the Director of Wildlife Security, is now Johana Tonui, who was actually a career police officer, most recently the police county commander of Mandera County in 2022. It is not known how he was selected for his present assignment with Kenya Wildlife Service.
4. Dr. John Waithaka, the previous head of the KWS Board of Trustees, resigned from that position reportedly due to undue interference from CS Najib Balala and other integrity issues. Waithaka was not officially replaced until January 2023, when President Ruto appointed retired Lieutenant General Walter Raria Koipaton to that position.
The war at the heart of Kenya Wildlife Service | Nation
Tuesday, December 05, 2023
By Brian Wasuna
Nation Media Group
Power struggles and in-fighting have struck at the heart of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), pitting Director-General Erastus Kanga against a section of senior managers.
At least six senior managers have been suspended in the last 11 months following disputes with Dr Kanga, internal documents and court filings seen by this writer show.
Finance director Japheth Kilonzo, his Partnerships counterpart Edwin Wanyonyi, senior assistant director Bernard Omware and former company secretary Doreen Mutung’a were all interdicted between January and July.
Ms Mutung’a has since resigned and sued KWS for constructive dismissal, a legal principle in which an employee is forced to quit on account of a hostile working environment.
Another official, Godwin Leslie Muhati, also quit the State agency and indicated frustration by the KWS top brass in his resignation letter.
Nancy Muthoni Kabete, now a deputy director, has been demoted after Dr Kanga irregularly transferred her to the Ministry of Tourism, under the State Department for Wildlife. Ms Kabete has filed a formal complaint with the KWS Board of Trustees, claiming that her woes are tied to refusal to bend procurement rules on Dr Kanga’s instruction.
The interdicted officers we reached out to declined to comment.
A KWS administrator said that Dr Kanga is out of the country and will be back next week. She, however, denied that there is in-fighting at the State agency.
Instead, she said that some unnamed corrupt individuals are fighting his occupation of the corner office along Langata road.
“…to shed light into this false allegation, we shall present to you documentary evidence to prove that corruption is fighting back. We assure you that there is no infighting at Kenya Wildlife Service,” the administrator said in an email response.
In her complaint, Ms Kabete said that the locks to her former office had all been changed shortly after receiving the transfer letter.
She claimed that Dr Kanga ordered for her work email to be deleted, despite still being a KWS employee seconded to the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. She further claimed that senior officers were reprimanded for communicating with her.
“Profiling of officers who are believed to be free with me (Example: reprimanding of Mr Chonga in a security meeting for having responded to my email communication to senior management and other officers of Security Directorate on my new deployment…
“Reprimanding of Acting Director Human Resource and Administration (Mr Kanani) for the simple reason that he had been spotted talking with me at the main parking bay after I had been served with the (deployment) letter,” Ms Kabete said in her complaint filed with the KWS Board of Trustees.
Mass transfers of both uniformed and non-uniformed staff has also seen the State agency haemorrhage taxpayer funds it received for its operations in the current and past financial year.
Between December 2022 and October this year, KWS has spent at least Sh75 million on catering for relocation fees and other related costs for transferred staff, sources at the State agency who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals said.
On the KWS website, 11 individuals are listed as the agency’s senior management. Only Dr Kanga and Deputy Director, Partnerships Simon Gitau are substantive office holders. All nine others are in acting capacity, painting a picture of an organisation on the brink of a staffing crisis.
Court papers show that in early January, Ms. Mutung’a walked into a meeting with Dr Kanga seeking to establish how they could foster a healthy working relationship. Ms Mutung’a was at the time the KWS head of legal services and corporation secretary. Dr Kanga had been Acting Director-General for just over one month.
In that time, Ms Mutung’a had received a notice to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against her for alleged violation of the KWS code of conduct.
After responding to the two notices, the files were closed.
Dr Kanga had also removed her from the State agency’s executive management committee on January 6, but returned her through a backdated memo. Her request to travel to Tanzania during the Christmas holiday was also denied.
Ms Mutung’a felt that the turn of events stemmed from a salty working relationship, which she sought to sweeten through the meeting.
In the January meeting, Dr Kanga allegedly claimed that Ms Mutung’a was among individuals that orchestrated his removal from the KWS Board of Trustees a few years earlier.
He also alleged that while on an official trip to Panama, Ms Mutung’a had spoken ill of him to former Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, Ms Mutung’a adds in court filings. He allegedly added that Ms Mutung’a held meetings with unnamed individuals to block the KWS Director-General from taking over the office.
In the court papers, Ms Mutung’a’s alleges that the KWS boss threatened to call her mother to rant.
Earlier, Dr Kanga’s administrative assistant had called Ms Mutung’a’s mother on instructions from Dr Kanga, documents Ms Mutung’a filed in court through Okweh Achiando & Company Advocates show.
On January 9 and 10, Ms Mutung’a received two more notices to show cause. After responding to the notices, the matters were both closed. She proceeded on leave afterwards.
On January 16, the KWS head of investigations asked Ms Mutung’a to report to his office to record a statement on an ongoing investigation into her.
A day later, Ms Mutung’a filed a harassment complaint with the KWS human resource advisory committee against Dr Kanga. In the complaint, she said Dr Kanga had sent two other directors—Mr Kilonzo and Mr Wanyonyi —to warn her about fighting the KWS Director-General.
The human resource advisory committee did not respond to Ms Mutung’a’s complaint.
While she was on leave, Ms Mutung’a’s father died. The human resource department called Ms Mutung’a, on instruction from Dr Kanga, to confirm whether the news was true. She sent a copy of the burial permit via email.
As the family was deep in burial preparations on January 30, Dr Kanga’s secretary called Ms Mutung’a and ordered her to report to work the following day to respond to an urgent memo from the KWS boss.
The memo sought to have Ms Mutung’a avail original contracts relating to KWS game park management systems. She reported to work on February 1, and the auditors allowed Ms Mutung’a to trace the documents upon returning from compassionate leave.
When she reported back to work on February 13, Ms Mutung’a filed a statement with the head of investigations. The following day, Dr Kanga interdicted her through a letter. On March 24, she resigned from the KWS.
In her suit papers, Ms Mutung’a argues that her employer, specifically through Dr Kanga, weaponised the human resource and investigations departments to harass her into resignation.
She adds that aside from being malicious, the February 14 interdiction was illegal as only the KWS Board of Trustees had authority to take action against staff in her pay grade, and not the Director-General.
Neither KWS nor Dr Kanga has responded to the court case.
In his first two months in charge, Dr Kanga interdicted four senior managers. On January 9, he interdicted senior assistant director Bernard Omware for allegedly using bonga points accrued from a KWS phone to purchase an iPhone 13 pro max, a copy of the letter to Mr Omware seen by this writer shows.
Mr Omware had instructed a junior officer to use the bonga points to acquire an iPad that would be used by KWS staffers for work. But the junior officer instead bought himself an iPhone.
On February 14, he interdicted Ms Mutung’a for allegedly failing to surrender unutilised travel allowances. He also accused Ms Mutung’a of failing to provide three contracts related to the game park management system.
Ms Mutung’a resigned midway through the investigation after responding to the allegations and supplying documents to show she surrendered the unused travel allowances.
The two directors that Dr Kanga allegedly sent to warn Ms Mutung’a—Kilonzo and Wanyonyi—were both interdicted on July 10 to pave way for an investigation into alleged procurement violations at KWS.
The interdicted officers are still away and on half salary pending completion of the investigation process.
Like Ms Mutung’a, Godwin Leslie Muhati resigned from the KWS citing frustration. Dr Muhati, one of the country’s top climate change experts, joined KWS in 2008 and was promoted to National Project Coordinator.
Following Dr Kanga’s appointment, he was transferred to Mt Elgon National Park as a senior warden. On September 22, he resigned from KWS, citing the agency’s failure to act on a study leave application for a prestigious fellowship he was invited to.
For Ms Kabete, all seemed well until she declined to approve the procurement of food and firefighting equipment whose prices she felt had been inflated, a complaint she filed with the KWS Board of Trustees against Dr Kanga indicates.
She joined KWS in 2001 as a graduate trainee, and rose through the ranks to become the Acting Director, Wildlife Security. In May KWS was purchasing firefighting equipment, which fell under her docket. In total, the agency was to spend Sh14 million.
Following a procurement process, a firm was picked to supply fork hoes. The firm supplied equipment that was different from the tender specifications and Ms Kabete declined to approve payment.
On June 7, Dr Kanga wrote to Ms Kabete, stating that she had been deployed to the State Department for Wildlife. A week later, she filed a harassment complaint against Dr Kanga with the KWS Board of Trustees.
Ms Kabete reported to the State Department of Wildlife, but the deployment letter had not stated what role she was to carry out in the new station.
On June 27, she wrote to the Public Service Commission (PSC) seeking clarity on the legality of the deployment, and arguing that the transfer was on account of refusal to approve payment for the firefighting equipment.
PSC rescinded the transfer and ordered Ms Kabete to return to KWS in August.
KWS officers to be charged over uniform scandal (11 million shillings)
by STAR REPORTER
27 November 2023 – 22:00
Two senior officials at the Kenya Wildlife Service are starring at prosecution over irregular procurement of uniforms, the Star has established.
The new Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga has approved the charges over the scandal that is estimated to have cost the taxpayer Sh11.5 million.
Ingonga who took over in September, has heightened the war on corruption and has already cracked the whip on the looting of affordable fertiliser.
The two suspects are alleged to have engineered the award of a direct procurement of the uniform dress materials.
Any direct procurement for a value exceeding Sh500,000 should be reported to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority within 14 days.
This was not done.
KWS accounting officer and a senior procurement officer will however not be prosecuted.
“We found the evidence against (name withheld) for the offence of conspiracy weak as he states that the procurement department had delegated different functions to sections and he was not in charge of processing procurement for security division,” internal ODPP documents seen by the Star states.
“He also rejected procurement of the materials using direct procurement in the tender committee meeting held on October 14, 2013.”
The procurement officials who had initially been earmarked for prosecution will now be a state witness.
The new details emerged just days after the DPP charged some alleged fertiliser fraud suspects.
This after detectives uncovered an alleged elaborate theft syndicate in the Sh15 billion affordable fertiliser programme.
Several people, includingsome Ministry of Agriculture officials, have been charged with alleged corruption.
Igonga has told the suspects to carry their own cross.
“People should stop doing things assuming that if they come from a certain region or community, the law won’t haunt them,” Igonga said.
It has emerged that some top officials at the Ministry of Agriculture allegedly registered non-existent farmers with thousands of acres of land, and used these fictitious individuals to collect hundreds of bags of subsidised fertiliser.
The affordable fertiliser is a key legacy project for President William Ruto which he hopes to use to turn around the country’s dwindling food basket.
Koskei talks tough on alleged graft at KWS, puts officers on notice
29 November 2023 – 18:48
Head of Public Service Felix Koskei on Wednesday sounded a warning to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers abetting corruption in their jurisdictions.
Koskei who was addressing staff after a familiarisation tour to the KWS headquarters at the Nairobi National Park said they are focused on weeding out greedy individuals that have continued to damage the nation’s image and public service standards.
This, he noted, will ensure prudent and economic use of public resources.
“Let us be satisfied with what we are getting and resist corruption at all. Let us not abuse the trust that we have been given by the people,” he quipped.
The chief of staff said it was regrettable that the country has over the years continued to lose its treasured heritage as a result of corrupt officers.
Corruption within the KWS, he pointed out, is evidenced by the increasing poaching, snaring, wildlife trafficking, illegal wildlife trade, encroachment of wildlife habitats, forest and even wildlife poisoning.
According to Koskei, this is often facilitated by corrupt officers within or without KWS but within the public service.
He at the same time told those in procurement and finance departments to stick to the laid down procedures and avoid any attempts of undue bribery to influence the award of tenders.
Such acts, he noted, have led to projects stalling, poor quality infrastructure, collapsing bridges and buildings, degraded forests, stolen or misallocated funds and poor service delivery.
“We are firm on this, we have said we cannot accept to have an enterprise within an institution anymore,” said Koskei.
He emphasised that the Kenya Kwanza administration is committed to ending corruption by ensuring the serviced other state agencies adhere to good governance practices.
Earlier on, Koskei laid a wreath at the Conservation Heroes’ monument at the park and also held a meeting with the board members.
He was accompanied by Wildlife Principal Secretary Silvia Museiya, KWS Board of Trustees chairman Walter Koipaton and KWS Director General Erustus Kanga among other senior officials.
KWS Director-General John Waweru sent on compulsory leave
Pool I Nation Media Group
By Kitavi Mutua December 5th, 2022
The Director General of Kenya Wildlife Service Brig Rtd John Migui Waweru who assumed office under controversial circumstances has been sent on compulsory leave as President William Ruto continues to constitute his government.
Brig Waweru who assumed office in March 2019, was sent home on Monday moments after attending the handing over ceremony of Principal Secretaries at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife.
He has been replaced in an acting capacity by Dr Erastus Kanga, the current Wildlife Secretary in the State Department of Wildlife, as the government seeks to competitively recruit a new Director General.
Sources told the Nation that the KWS boss was asked to remain at the Ministry headquarters after the handing over ceremony as other top officials proceeded for lunch, where he was instructed to vacate office immediately.
According to a memo released to KWS staff at 5 o’clock, Deputy Directors, Divisional Heads, Field Senior Assistant Directors and Wardens in charge of Parks and Game Reserves were instructed to inform all employees under them of the changes.
“This is to inform you that the Director General Brig Rtd John Waweru has proceeded on compulsory leave and the Government has appointed Dr Erastus Kanga as Acting Director with immediate effect,’’ read the terse memo released by KWS Deputy Director, Human Resource and Administration.
Brig Waweru was appointed to head KWS by former President Uhuru Kenyatta to replace former acting Director Julius Kimani who died in office, but he took over from Prof Charles Musyoki, a distinguished wildlife expert who was also serving in acting capacity.
His appointment was announced as the KWS Board of Trustees was in the process of recruiting a new man to enter the proverbial lions’ den.
The Board of Trustees was on its second day of interviewing candidates who had applied for the top KWS job when President Kenyatta appointed the retired military man to head the wildlife agency, throwing the process into disarray.
Resigning in protest
The appointment triggered disquiet among staff with the Chair of KWS Board of Trustees, Dr. John Waithaka, who was chairing the recruitment panel resigning in protest.
The retired brigadier was not among the applicants and was never interviewed for the job.
The law provides that the Board of Trustees advertises for the Director General’s position and interviews applicants, before forwarding three nominees to the Tourism Cabinet Secretary for appointment.
Brig Waweru’s last public appearance at the helm of KWS was last week when he appeared before the Senate’s National Security, Defense and Foreign Relations Committee to shed light on how the agency was planning to manage the South Kitui Game Reserve, which has been a hideout of armed bandits.
He had been summoned by the Senate Committee to explain why the game reserve had been neglected by the wildlife agency.
The Director General’s sacking comes amid continued purge by President Ruto on leadership of civilian government agencies headed by military officers.
KWS chairman resigns citing frustrations
11 June 2020 – 23:00
Kenya Wildlife Service board chairman John Waithaka has resigned citing frustrations, the Star has established.
A source familiar with the happenings at the troubled parastatal confirmed that Dr Waithaka resigned last week.
“He resigned a few days ago. He has since written to the Office of the President but there has been no response,” the source said.
Waithaka is said to have been irked by extreme interference by the Ministry of Tourism and failure by the KWS management to implement board decisions.
The board has raised several issues dogging the institution, including the parastatal being run by the ministry as a department, the alarming loss of wildlife without much being done, baseless disciplinary actions taken against staff and loss of 76 square kilometres of Chyulu Hills National Park last year though a court ruling.
Other complaints are the appointment of the director general in March 2019, KWS having over 1,300 temporary staff working in sensitive areas for years, parks that exist on paper without staff or minimum facilities, lack of a strategic plan, outdated policy of 1975 and illegal encroachment of the Nairobi National Park.
This is not the first time KWS is faced with controversy.
Early this year, one of the board members disclosed that their decisions were not heeded by the authorities.
The member who requested anonymity said they had made over 100 decisions which were not implemented.
The proposed fencing of the Nairobi National Park is also said to have caused friction as it would turn the park into a zoo.
The source said some of the things being done were likely to compromise the ecological integrity of the country.
It is understood that a road project cutting through the Aberdares Forest, which is at the design stage, had been opposed by the board.
The board said the road project would destroy the integrity of the park.
Failure by authorities to take professional advice has seen staff at KWS leave in droves. The legal department is the most affected.
Tourism CS Najib Balala yesterday confirmed Waithaka’s resignation, saying he heard the news through one of the board members.
Balala denied claims that his ministry was interfering with KWS.
“When given a budget, you must be asked questions. This is not a private company. I normally go to the National Assembly to answer questions,” Balala said.
He said he is asked questions pertaining to management plans for the parks, title deeds and issues surrounding human-wildlife conflict.
Balala said there will be no vacuum as Waithaka’s post will be filled.
Waithaka was appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta for three years effective May 21, 2018.
The source said the chairman resigned “due to extreme interference with the running of KWS by the ministry and the failure of management to implement board decisions.”
A decorated conservationist, Waithaka has deep connections.
He was born outside the boundary of the Aberdare National Park where he grew up as a shepherd boy.
His community shared the land with wild animals and outside influence was minimal.
Waithaka did not go to school until he was 10 years old as his father did not see the value of formal education.
He would later specialise in conservation biology and started working with researchers who were studying endangered species in the country.
Waithaka would later become a crusader for community-based conservation.
Over the years, Waithaka worked in various capacities including as a lecturer at Kenyatta University, elephant programme coordinator for Kenya, deputy director at the Kenya Wildlife Service, manager of the European Union’s Biodiversity Conservation Programme and director of the African Conservation Center.
Waithaka moved to Canada in 2003 and worked with Parks Canada as a conservation biologist until he returned to Kenya in January 2017.
