Go to hell – CS Balala tells those asking him to resign

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala on Monday told those calling for his resignation over the death of 10 rhinos moved to Tsavo East national park to go to hell.

The CS further stated that only President Uhuru Kenyatta has the capacity to fire him and his conscience is clear as far as that matter is concerned.

"I will stand for what is right...These are sideshows....nobody appointed me. It is only Uhuru Kenyatta who has appointed me...they can go to hell and I can tell them that...I don't want to comment about the rhinos but they can go to hell," he said.

Adding: "It is Uhuru Kenyatta who knows I have the capacity to run the wildlife docket and nobody will intimidate me, they want to destroy KWS so that they can take over the parks and start using emotions of international people to raise funds for their lifestyles that are not accountable".

For the past few days, Kenyans have put pressure on Balala to resign following the failed translocation of rhinos from Nairobi and Nakuru national parks but he has remained firm that it was not his fault.

The relocation of the animals was carried out by KWS and facilitated by the World Wide Fund Kenya but former KWS board chairman Richard Leakey stated that by suspending several KWS officers, the CS was avoiding underlying issues that have been affecting his ministry.

In his defense, the CS divulged that the deaths were due to multiple stress syndrome intensified by salt poisoning, blaming this on negligence by some officers.

“The independent inquiry (that looked into the rhino deaths) further showed there were areas of clear negligence that occurred after translocation at the release site in Tsavo, especially in the holding boma at the sanctuary that included poor coordination and communication among officers,” Balala said.

He further added that part of the assessment that warned of salty water in the area had not been put into consideration.