THE BEGINNING OF KWS

The WCMD; better known as the wildlife conservation and management department was a government department under the ministry of environment and natural resources and all its employees were civil servants who were either trained by the Kenya police or the army on basic paramilitary training because it was through that training that the police commissioner loaned them weapons. Yes, they were given the standard 303 mark four rifles and a few G3 rifles which enabled them to form the dreaded anti poaching unit [APU] with camps in Garissa and manyani and isiolo, and they traversed the whole country in the struggle to contain the escalating elephant poaching by marauding gangs from in and out of the country. The government seconded officers from both the military and the police to lead them and in most cases the military choppers were deployed to assist in containing the war.

This were the pioneers of conservation in this country and they played their role as the custodians of our country’s natural resources to the best of their ability with the limited resources available to them then. To say the truth, this was a bunch of dedicated men who did what they did then under the prevailing condition and poor funding to save our heritage. Poaching increased 10 fold in the late 70's and we lost more than 60% of the elephant population in Tsavo alone and this prompted the then government to bring  in a young man by the name of Richard Leakey as the director of the wildlife department and  he came in with his own conditions such as he needed autonomy from the ministry, and the freedom to keep and use donor funds without interference from the ministry , a request that was granted by the then president , HE.Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, and in the process the department was changed into a government parastatal and named the  ‘Kenya Wildlife Service’(KWS) and it was officially given its own flag in April 1991 in a ceremony held in Nairobi Park. The ceremonial parade was led by platoon commander Mr. Mohamed Kheri and the Flag was hoisted by sergeant Julius Cheptai. 

The Director of the service was given a free hand to run an armed government parastatal with zero interference from the mother ministry and he brought in the much needed equipment, vehicles ,  planes and hope to the newly formed service.

In February 1990 , 216 recruits were enlisted from the northern pastoral tribes of Kenya for there was general believe that they were fearless people who needed little training in the use of firearms and they were used to interaction with wildlife . The government then seconded officers from the dreaded FFU, (Fanya Fujo Uone) team also known as the GSU ( general service unit ) or the red berets to manyani field training school to handle training and a man called Abdulahi Omar Bashir {AOB} was brought in from the same force to lead the security wing of the new service. Bashir was a handful of a man who bullied everyone from ranger to the wardens , but he brought in the much needed discipline and order to the division and he introduced the current departments of investigation, intelligence , prosecution and administration including the stores to cater for uniforms, compo rations and many other wares. 

The new recruits were trained both in Naivasha and at the GSU field training facility in Magadi for six months and after graduation they were posted to newly formed companies in Tsavo {A coy} which was commanded by Daniel Woodley while Mark Jenkins  [whom came out of nowhere since he only joined the service at that particular time] assisted by Peter Leitoro started the SOB { Special operation Base } . It is important to note that this were the only two companies that were established by the time the new recruits graduated from Magadi but later that year companies were formed in Mt. Elton {C coy} Meru { B coy }.  D coy soon followed as a strategy when KWS requested to run Masai Mara game reserve,. A request that was granted but lasted for only one day before it was revoked. 

There was a company/platoon commanders and NCOs course in Magadi field training school that started soon after the new recruits reported to Naivasha and this was planned in a way that the officers would be ready by the time the rangers graduated. The officers were in four categories as follows; 10 Field Assistant Wardens who included , Paul Onyango, Peter Lemereu, Mohamed Kheri, Julius Mwandai, Kaviu, Joseph Kitonyi, Mabruk Mzee, Kimani Ndiku, J. Achoki and Samuel Nganga. Some of this officers were later given platoon/company command and some sent as instructors to the newly formed Manyani field school and they were all in the rank of AW 111. The second group were AW11, and this included Thomas Mailu,  David Mutuiwa , Peter Leitoro, William Sang , Suki  Konchela and Peter Sangawe who was later killed by poachers in Meru National Park.

 Then we had two officers of AW1 rank and they included, Fredrick kiminda and Patrick Mbuthia and this is the team that later took charge of Manyani training school as commandants and the fifth group included the two sons of Woodley, Daniel and Bongo . It is important to note that Peter Jenkins was the father of Mark Jenkins and he was the first warden of Meru park, while the late Bill Woodley was the father of Daniel and Bongo and he worked in Tsavo both in Ithumba and Tsavo west before moving to head the mountain parks. David Sheldrick established himself in the Tsavo national parks in the early years of conservation in our country.

AOB was not satisfied by the level of command he got from the company commanders he had , so he convinced management that he needed to recruit fresh hands to lead his warriors, a term he used in reference to the newly graduated rangers who had too much energy but lacked leadership. This was how 28 cadets , me included got recruited in late 1991.