Activist Okiya Omtatah wants KWS boss cited for contempt

Bernice Mbugua @BerniceMuhindi

Activist Okiya Omtatah now wants Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Director-General Brigadier (Rtd) John Waweru cited for contempt, for refusing to provide him with documents and information regarding the management plan of Nairobi National Park. 

Omtatah, through Kenyans for Justice and Development organisation, wants Waweru punished for disobeying a court order issued on July 28, which ordered him to avail the said information.

“Disobedience of the court orders undermines both the authority of this court and the rule of law,” Omtatah says in court documents.

Omtatah says the court had suspended the conclusion of the review by stakeholders and the general public of the Nairobi National Park Draft Management Plan 2020-2030 pending the mention of this matter on 21st September 2020. But on September 2, the KWS director-general issued a statement informing the public that the review had been concluded.

Public interest

“It is urgent that this court intervenes in the dispute to protect public interest in the rule of law,” he says.

According to Omtatah,the director-general’s deliberate defiance to the orders undermine and bring to ridicule, the process and dignity of the court.

Omtatah had written to the Tourism ministry and KWS boss requesting information on arrangements between KWS, Kenya Railways Corporation and the Grain Bulk Handlers Limited regarding the re-alignment of the park’s fence for the construction of grain silos and bulk cargo imports.

Omtatah seeks documents relating to the management plan of the park, to ensure the same is acceptable to the general public. 

He also wants to know the legality of the task force that developed the master plan and the legal basis for the same.