Ol Jogi Wildlife Conservancy on Wednesday denied claims that its staffers handled Mordecai Ogada- a Kenyan- aggressively to the point of having him and his family at gunpoint while they were on a game drive on a public road that bisects the property.

In a statement, Ol Jogi Chief Executive Mike Fischer accused Mr Ogada of distorting the facts regarding the incident which occurred last week.

“Ol Jogi wildlife conservancy has noted with concern the false representation of facts via social media by Dr. Mordecai Ogada who alleges that he was confronted by our security team in an aggressive and threatening manner while parked on the road reserve along the public road that bisects our conservancy,” said Mr Fischer.

Mr Fischer’s account of the incident is that one of the National Police Reservists (NPRs) deployed as the conservancy’s security team spotted Dr. Ogada’s vehicle parked beside a public road next to the conservancy’s perimeter fence, where there was a herd of elephants and a single critically endangered Rhino bull.

The Chief Executive said that the NPR approached the vehicle, driven by Dr. Ogada, by stopping alongside it in his vehicle, as dictated by security protocols.

“The security officer while in his car, then enquired from Dr. Ogada whether he had any mechanical problems with his vehicle, after which he kindly requested him to refrain from taking photos as this was a pretext that poachers have used in the past to scout for an opportunity to poach endangered wildlife in the conservancy,” said Mr Fischer.

“At this point Dr. Ogada got angry, threw his business card at our security officer, and drove off.  As per security protocols, the security officer immediately reported the incident to the command station via radio. The second team radioed and stated that they were nearby. They went to the road and noted Dr. Ogada stopped his vehicle when he approached them,” said Mr Fischer.

“The two officers asked if he had communicated with the conservancy’s management of his interest in taking photos of the wildlife, at which point Dr. Ogada became aggressive and drove off. The security team then logged in their incident report as per protocol,” he added.

“It is worth noting that Ol Jogi encounters many vehicles on the government roads that bisect the property every day. In most instances we assist people with broken down vehicles, pedestrians who are at risk from dangerous wildlife and people who have lost their way. There are instances however, that people with “bad intentions” have been encountered and it is the duty of the NPR officers to act within the law to ascertain their intentions,” added Mr Fischer.

“As a responsible corporate citizen, Ol Jogi is a committed member of the community and respectfully urges the public to disregard Dr. Ogada’s false and inflammatory statements and await the outcome of the investigations called by Najib Balala – the Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary, into the allegations. An independent investigation will also be carried out by the NPR as their officers were involved in the incident,” he added.

“Ol Jogi Conservancy takes great exception to being labelled as racist and contrary to the stereotype propagated by Dr. Ogada, we value racial diversity and equality and have implemented a policy to ensure the same. For instance, out of the 270 employees working at the conservancy, only 3 members are non-Kenyan,” concluded Mr Fischer.

Incident

In a social media post on Sunday last week, Mr Ogada claimed that the first reservist he encountered pointed a gun at him and his children while on a game drive on the public road.

Mr Ogada further claimed that the other reservists also showed every intention to brandish their guns on his family.

The post quickly captured the attention of Kenyans on social media who trained their guns on the conservancy.

What followed was a statement from Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala who ordered the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to commence immediate investigations into the matter.

“The Government of Kenya and my Ministry will not condone any undue harassment or intimidation of Kenyans who are going about their normal businesses and enjoying their God given heritage by anyone,” said Mr Balala in a statement.

“No discriminatory harassment of any nature in and around private conservancies and in any tourism facility in the country will be tolerated by the Government of Kenya,” added CS Balala.

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