Mwatate legislator Andrew Mwadime has proposed an amendment of the Wildlife Management and Conservation Act, 2013 to convert the expansive Tsavo East and West National Parks to national reserves.
In the amended bill, the two conservancies will be managed by the Taita Taveta county government. The Wildlife Management and Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 has now been tabled to the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
Effectively, Mwadime said the amendment will confer management and conservation rights of the two national reserves to the Taita Taveta County Government.
“The county government therefore, will be obligated to collect charges and park entry fees on behalf of the community,” the MP said.
The Tsavo National Park is the oldest and the largest National Park in Kenya. Besides its fame in flora and fauna, the park hosts the Mzima springs- the water catchment that supplies water to the entire Coast region.
The MP said the new bill seeks to revert revenue held by the state to the community, noting that the locals have been left behind in benefit sharing despite their contribution to conservation of the park.
The bill is set to rekindle new pressure from the county leaders who have been pushing the government to hand over the park to the community.
Taita Taveta County Assembly, last year passed a motion on the sharing of revenue from the Tsavo National Park, paving way for residents to petition Kenya Wildlife Service over revenue sharing.
The petition sought KWS to remit to the County government at least 30 percent of over Sh60 billion collected annually from the twin park. The petition has never materialised.
The Star has however learned that a dilemma has been on how the revenue would be divided among the counties bordering Tsavo if the park is converted into a game reserve.
Apart from Taita Taveta, Tsavo also borders Kitui, Makueni, Kilifi, Kwale, Tana River and Kajiado counties. Almost all the seven counties have rooted for a piece of the pie from the park.
Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja has also been on the forefront championing for the county to manage the conservancy.
He said the move is aimed at liberating the people from the suppression occasioned by the KWS further making sure that the county gets a share of the revenue collected.
He said the residents have continually suffered from the conflict despite the government earning billions from the National Park. He said no revenue is remitted to the County Government.
