Ethics Newsline®

NAROK, Kenya
Kenya’s president last week sacked a senior prosecutor for dismissing murder charges against a British aristocrat accused of killing a Maasai game warden investigating poaching.

Philip Murgor, who was fired from his post as Kenya’s director of public prosecutions, had dismissed murder charges against Thomas Cholmondeley, saying there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case.

Murgor’s decision enraged local Maasai leaders, who accused Murgor of skewing the justice system to help Cholmondeley, the great-grandson of one of Kenya’s most prominent British settlers, reported the Associated Press.

Cholmondeley, whose sprawling ranch was under investigation by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for illegal trade, said he killed the KWS warden after mistaking him for a thief, claiming the killing was a matter of self-defense.

After Murgor dropped all charges and released Cholmondeley from jail, Maasai leaders threatened to besiege Cholmondeley’s game ranch for a demonstration.

“Murgor had to go because he acted unprofessionally when handling the case,” a senior government official told the Agence France-Presse last week.

After Murgor’s firing, the Maasai said they would postpone the demonstrations to give the government two weeks to re-arrest Cholmondeley and charge him for murder, noted the AFP.

An inquest into the murder is scheduled to begin June 6.