Ranger scandal hits Kenya

2004-11-09 10:46

Nairobi - The Kenyan government has suspended the head of the country's wildlife authorities over a scandal in recruitment of trainee game rangers, officials said on Tuesday.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) director Evans Mukolwe was suspended on Monday after anti-graft officers launched investigations into an alleged recruitment scandal in the state-run body, said government spokesman Alfred Mutua.

"Mukolwe was suspended after anti-corruption officers moved in to probe a scandal over the recruitment of trainee-game rangers," he told AFP.

Officials in Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), a body charged with combating graft in the country, said preliminary investigations had shown that about 520 of nearly 1 000 trainee rangers were recruited after recommendations by politicians.

"There is a talk of bribery and favourism in the whole exercise," which took place early and mid this year, said a KACC official, who asked not to be named.

KWS, formed in 1989, has been rocked by numerous management scandals, resulting in the firing of three former directors at different times in the past decade.

Wildlife form the core part of Kenya's mainstay tourism sector.

- AFP