Erastus Kanga, the Director General of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), is now being linked to a worrying cover-up involving the disappearance of Brian Odhiambo, a fisherman from Nakuru. This comes after six KWS officers were charged with abducting the man, yet none of them have been suspended or interdicted.
During a court session, the Assistant Director of Lake Nakuru National Park, Emmanuel Koech, told the magistrate that although several officers were transferred after the incident, the six rangers involved are still actively working in the park.
The officers mentioned in court are Senior Sergeant Francis Wachira and rangers Alexander Lorogoi, Isaac Ochieng, Michael Wabukala, Evans Kimaiyo, and Abdulrahaman Sudi. Koech said they have not been interdicted because they have not yet been convicted.
He claimed that internal disciplinary actions had started but were not yet complete, even though the officers were charged as far back as May 5. He did not explain why the process had taken so long.
Koech said the officers had been sent on duty to arrest people suspected of illegal activities in the park and were armed during the assignment. He admitted that when handcuffs are not enough, rangers sometimes use ropes to tie suspects.
However, he could not provide any records of arrests being made on the day Odhiambo was taken, even though five rangers had testified that they arrested several people, including one believed to be Odhiambo.In court, Koech shocked many when he said it is possible for a suspect to escape and for the escape not to be recorded.
He added that if a ranger provides a believable explanation, they are not held responsible. He confessed this practice was familiar to him from his work in other stations but said it was new to Nakuru.
Despite saying he had been fully briefed on the matter, Koech failed to answer basic questions about the incident and admitted he had no arrest records for January 18, the date linked to Odhiambo’s disappearance.
Koech also gave conflicting information about how suspects are handled. He first said at least two rangers should accompany any arrested suspect but later claimed that a single ranger could manage that responsibility.
One ranger, Sudi, was said to be the last person seen with Odhiambo, yet he never reported that the man had escaped custody.
Adding to the suspicion, phone records from Safaricom showed that four of the accused rangers Lorogoi, Ochieng, Wabukala, and Kimaiyo were at the same location as Odhiambo in Kivumbini estate on the morning of January 18.
While Sudi was reportedly in a different area, no data could place Wachira at any specific location at the time.The slow pace of the disciplinary process, continued employment of the accused rangers, and Koech’s vague answers have raised concerns of a possible cover-up involving senior KWS leadership, including Erastus Kanga.
The case, which many hoped would bring accountability, now leaves more questions than answers as it continues on September 1.
