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Narok wildlife attack pay hits Sh120m

elephants

The government spent Sh120 million on compensating victims killed in buffalo, elephant and snake attacks in Narok County from 2014. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The government spent Sh120 million on compensating victims killed in buffalo, elephant and snake attacks in Narok County from 2014.

Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala says 24 compensation claims for human death have been settled.

Mr Balala said 51 people were killed by wildlife in Narok County between 2014 and 2019.

Compensation for human death, injury or damage to property has been significantly increased under the new law that came into force on January 10, 2014.

It lists Sh5 million for human death, Sh3 million for injury with permanent disability and up to Sh2 million for other injuries.

“Out of the 55 claims for human injury approved by the Ministerial Wildlife Conservation and Compensation Committee (MWCCC) for payment, 22 claims have been processed and paid to the claimants, 11 by buffalo, three by elephant and eight by snakes. The persons paid during the month of June 2020 under injury claims in Narok totalled Sh10,385,000,” he told the National Assembly’s Committee on Wildlife and Natural Resources.

Statistics tabled before MPs show that from the year 2014 up to 2019, a total 738 compensation claims were launched in Narok County.

Crop destruction contributed 25 percent of the cases while livestock predation contributed 47 percent and human injury 21 percent.

Mr Balala said all human death claims deliberated and approved for payment by Ministerial Wildlife Conservation and Compensation Committee (MWCCC) have been processed and paid.

CLAIM REJECTED

“Eight human death claims were referred to claimants to provide endorsements on various support documentation and have already been resubmitted for MWCCC reconsideration, while one claim was rejected due to lack of postmortem report,” he said.

He was responding to Narok woman representative Soipan Tuiya who had demanded a report on the status of compensation for death, injuries and destruction of property in all 47 counties.

CROP DESTRUCTION

Ms Tuiya wanted Mr Balala to appear before MPs and provide a compensation plan per county.

She argued Narok County, which hosts Maasai Mara Game Reserve, had suffered huge losses arising from human wildlife conflict as 65 percent of wildlife roam freely, earning Kenya substantial revenues annually.

Mr Balala said key conflict issues affecting the Narok County are livestock predation, human threats caused by mostly hyenas and lions and crop destruction occasioned by elephants and buffaloes.

The KWS owed victims Sh2.2 billion for the years 2014 to 2016 alone but the figure has risen to more than Sh6 billion as at end of June 2020.