Deputy President Prof. Kithure Kindiki has said that the government is committed to ensuring that all Human-Wildlife conflict victims are fully compensated by the year 2027.
Speaking on Friday afternoon at Naibor Trading centre in Laikipia County, where he issued compensation cheques worth Sh70 million to over 700 victims of human-wildlife conflicts in the county, the DP added that the government was keen on ending the backlog in compensation, with some having waited for over a decade.
“Some of the people we are issuing cheques today have waited for a long time, some victims or their relatives for over 10 years. This long backlog has to come to an end, and I can assure Kenyans that all pending compensations shall be paid before we go to the next elections,” he assured.
At the same time, the DP announced that the government, through the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), was in the process of fencing all wildlife sanctuaries in order to minimize cases of Human-Wildlife conflicts in the country, which occur when wild animals stray into people’s dwelling areas.
Prof. Kindiki also announced the commencement of upgrading the Nanyuki-Doldol and Nanyuki-Rumuruti roads into bitumen standards to ease movement in the area.
Accompanying the DP was Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife Rebecca Miano, who said that her ministry, apart from putting up electric fences around wildlife sanctuaries, was also improving access roads within game parks and reserves as a way of boosting tourism in the country.
Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu, who also graced the function, noted that locals had suffered for long due to attacks and destruction of crops and farms by wild animals, adding that the compensation, though delayed, was a welcome move in ensuring residents and wildlife could mutually coexist in the area.
Laikipia County has the second-highest reported cases of human-wildlife conflicts after Taita Taveta.
Some of the beneficiaries of the compensation expressed their gratefulness after they were awarded cheques of various amounts depending on the nature of injury or damage to farms and property by wildlife.
By Martin Munyi
