Veterinary professionals have called for the immediate reinstatement of their colleagues who were suspended from the Kenya Wildlife Service over the death of the 10 rhinos during the translocation in June this year.
Tourism CS Najib Balala had suspended six KWS officers in July over the death of the rhinos accusing them of negligence, citing an inquiry report.
He also demoted director general Julius Kimani, appointing Dr Charles Musyoki as a replacement in an acting capacity.
But the Kenyan Veterinary Board appointed a seven-member inquiry team led by Vijay Varma, a vet lecturer at the University of Nairobi to investigate the professional conduct of the suspended officers in handling the translocation process.
The team released its report on Monday, exonerating the suspended officers of any professional negligence.
Commenting on the report, the board’s chair Chirstopher Wanga said the report is exhaustive and that it has vindicated the officers.
“The vet professionals have been discharged from any professional culpability,” he said, adding that “they followed the right procedure in handling the translocation process.”
Hesitating from blaming the CS on the action taken against the officers, Wanga emphasized that the blame should squarely be on the instability at the board of the KWS.
“We hope the report will be used to stabilise the board and have vet professionals versed on issues of health and welfare, rather than being full of conservationists as it is now,” he said.
“Leadership at the board also needs to be stabilised,” said Wanga. The board needs to be there all the time, he added.
Those shown the door were Isaac Leekolol, Samuel Kasiki, Felix Mwangangi, Mohammed Omar and Fredrick Odock Lala,
“We are not just calling for reinstatement of our colleagues but also the full implementation of the released report,” he said.
He also threatened court action “for damages for our colleagues because their reputations have been seriously wounded”.
“We have been following this matter from inception and now as then, we maintain that our colleagues were used to cover for the failure of the top management and CS Balala,” he said.