MPs open probe into unpaid Sh5bn payout for human-wildlife conflict victims

MPs have opened public inquiry into the widespread cases of human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) amid reports of unpaid claims in excess of Sh5 billion to the victims.

National Assembly Tourism and Wildlife announced the move following an outcry by the public over the rising cases of HWC and nonpayment of claims.

“We have stated that we are going to open public inquiry because this problem is affecting nearly everywhere,” chairman Kareke Mbiuki said.

It emerged that thousands of victims, some injured and their kin killed more than 30 years ago, are yet to be compensated for the losses.

This comes even as Lamu East MP Ruweida Obo has introduced amendment to Wildlife Conservation and Management Act to expand the list of animals to which compensation claim can be paid.

In the amendments, the lawmaker seeks to add four sea animals – stone fish, whales, sting rays and sharks – to the list.

Currently, the law allows compensation for death or injury caused by elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, hyena, crocodiles, cheetah and buffalo.

The lawmakers spoke during the committee’s meeting with representatives of some 5,000 petitioners seeking the August House’s intervention to compel the government to pay them.

The victims who come from various counties, lamented that the wild animals are wreaking havoc – killing their kin, injuring and maiming them and destroying their farms.

The petitioners, who were mainly from Tharaka Nithi, Kwale, Isiolo and Meru narrated harrowing experience they are undergoing in the hands of elephants.

The jumbos, they said, are breaking into their firms and home; causing deaths, injuries and massive destruction.

“Elephants are roaming on the roads. They are in our farms. Our children cannot go to school because of elephants,” Abdallah Joto, a petitioner from Kinango, Kwale county said.

The petitioners submitted that they are frequently raided by the Jumbos, including those from Tanzania.

“Elephants from Tanzania cannot be scared away by fire, nose or bells like others. It’s scary,” he added.

During the meeting, nearly all the committee members said they have personally suffered the ordeal in the hands of the wildlife.

Mbiuki said that an elephants mauled his grandmother several years ago, but his family is yet to be compensated safe for the state burial accorded by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Voi MP Hamisi Chome said he and his constituents have become the hosts of the hostile jumbos.

“I’m a victim of HWC. I have been attacked and my farm destroyed. But for me I could live with it, but my constituents, peasant farmers cannot because that is their life,” Chome said.

The MP lamented even after suffering injuries in the hands of the jumbos, the residents are forced to undergo the tedious process of filling and paying for compensation of claims forms.

Wildlife PS Sylvia Museiya admitted the incessant delays in the compensation of the victims of human-wildlife conflicts.

Museiya disclosed that the ministry disbursed Sh958 million for the compensation of the victims in the last financial year.

“Of the Sh958m, we have compensated Kenyans from 2014 up to 2018, there is still a big backlog,” Museiya said as she pleaded with MPs for more funding.

In the current fiscal year, the department has been allocated Sh1.1 billion for compensation of the victims.

“We are trying to clear the backlog from 2018 to 2020, but I must add because the public is here, we are not paying in full, we doing it in batches but when we get the money we will clear," Museiya said.

The law provides that death cause by wildlife attract Sh5 million in compensation while injuries attract Sh3 million.

"And I would want to plead with the committee please help us to clear this backlog, we we come to you for allocation of human wildlife conflict allocation, please here our pleas," she said.

"Going forward we have a plan of how to compensate, but the challenge is with the backlog, because we have Kenyans who are still waiting for compensation since 1990"