Police expose Sh1.4m gate fee scam at park

By LEONARD KORIR

Narok County

Police in Trans Mara have unearthed a syndicate where more than Sh1.4 million gate collections were stolen at Masai Mara National Game Reserve.

Seven employees of Kenya Airports Parking Services (Kaps) contracted to collect gate charges on behalf of Trans Mara County Council were arrested and interrogated by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department.

They were held at Kilgoris Police Station before being released on police cash bail as investigation continues.

Kaps is an agent contracted by Mara Conservancy to collect revenue in the Mara Triangle on behalf of the County Council of Trans Mara.

Area District Criminal Investigations Officer John Lokopit, said bank accounts under the names of the suspects have been frozen.

Pocketing cash

The officer said the theft was traced to December last year where the suspects have been issuing advanced-booked park tickets to visitors entering the reserve and pocketing the cash.

Last week, the agent’s supervisor was arraigned in court and charged with fraud. Mr Justus Musyoka was charged before Kilgoris Senior Resident Magistrate, Bernard Ochieng with stealing Sh1.5 million from Kaps on diverse dates in December 2010 at Oloololo gate of Masai Mara in Trans Mara District. The disclosure of the fraud has elicited bitter reactions from a section of councillors from the area.

Investigate

Led by former council chairman Peter Nkoidila Ole Shira, the civic leaders called on Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the matter.

"We can no longer sit back and watch as millions of money meant to benefit the locals is stolen. We want the matter to be addressed once and for all so that all loopholes can be sealed to avoid theft in future," said Mr Nkoidila.

He said the council loses millions of shillings every year in revenue collection due to lack of transparency and accountability from collection agents.

"It became difficult for the council to ascertain the amount of money collected since the agents appointed to collect revenue in Mara are not answerable to the council but to Mara Conservancy, an agent managing the game reserve on behalf of the council," said Nkoidila.