The Kenyan government paid £700,000 (about Ksh120 million in the current exchange rates) to the father of Julie Ward, a British tourist who was allegedly murdered in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in 1988.
According to reporting by The Telegraph, the payment was allegedly made in 1997, with the help of the British MI6, to cater for the expenses Ward's father, John Ward, incurred while seeking justice for his daughter's death.
The payment was executed 'off the record' to persuade John to abandon his quest for a full investigation into her daughter's death, according to the publication.
Julie Ward was allegedly murdered in the Maasai Mara game reserve. Initially, official reports claimed that she died either from a wild animal attack or lightning.
However, in 2004, an Egyptian pathologist, Adel Shaker, who first examined her remains, admitted that he was intimidated into signing a false report. Ward's burnt left leg and lower jawbone were all that was left of her after she disappeared on the Masai Mara.
Initially, Shaker, who was working for the Kenyan government, concluded that Ward's leg and jaw were dissected by a clean cut, indicating she had been murdered, but his boss altered his first report and pressured him to sign the false one.
The pathologist, who fled Kenya fearing for his life, said that the Kenyan police were determined to portray it as a murder or an accident during the reinvestigation of the case.
Shaker alleged that some senior police officials described Julie Ward as "a loose girl" who slept with several men during her stay at the game reserve.
"People told me this was the fate of one girl balanced by the fate of an entire nation," Shaker said.
The prime suspect in Julie’s horrific death was the son of the then-powerful President Daniel Arap Moi. Jonathan died of cancer in 2019 without ever being charged.
Jonathan consistently denied being on the Masai Mara game reserve, where Julie was killed, at that time. However, new evidence, which the police possessed years before his death, proves he lied and was present.
A handwritten statement from a camp official placed him near the scene during the incident. Bob, Julie's brother, only learnt of this evidence recently, and his father, John, spent millions of pounds pursuing justice for his daughter before passing away in 2023.
Over the years, multiple people, including game wardens and a head ranger, were charged, but all trials ended in acquittals due to insufficient evidence.
Julie's father alleged that authorities in Kenya and Britain were trying to cover up her murder to protect powerful individuals in government.
