- The county hosts the twin national park, Kenya's biggest protected area that occupies more than 62 per cent of the county's land.
- Taita Taveta Senator Mwaruma said residents of the region are the most affected by perennial human-wildlife conflicts.
Image: SOLOMON MUINGI
Taita Taveta county will engage the Kenya Wildlife Service to negotiate on getting a pie of the revenue collected at the expansive Tsavo East and West National parks.
Senator Jones Mwaruma on Tuesday met the KWS director general John Waweru to discuss how residents in the county could benefit from Kenya’s biggest conservation area.
Mwaruma took to his Facebook account to disclose that the duo also discussed issues relating to wildlife management.
“I first thanked him for the move to set aside Sh206 million for compensation to the residents affected by human wildlife conflict,” the senator said.
“We also renewed the discussion on the concessions that we can get as a county from the park.”
The compensation will cover deaths and destruction of property cases reported between 2014 and 2021.
The county hosts the twin national park, Kenya's biggest protected area that occupies more than 62 per cent of the county's land.
Mwaruma said residents of the region are the most affected by perennial human-wildlife conflicts.
“The concessions are as a result of the demands we have had on the national government to revert the Tsavo National Park to a game reserve,” Mwaruma added.
He said that county leaders are proposing setting aside part of the park for community conservation. They also want part of the Tsavo land set aside for mining by the county.
Other proposed activities for county revenue creation are trade in carbon credit and other forms of enterprise within the ambit of wildlife economy.
“These concessions, if achieved, will form a creative and innovative way of raising adequate funds to develop infrastructure such as electric fences to keep wild animals at bay,” he said.
The funds, Mwaruma said, could also be used to compensate in real time, those who suffer as a result of wildlife attacks.
Further, the duo discussed the need for collaboration between the county and the KWS to raise funds to put up infrastructure required to mitigate the frequent human-wildlife conflicts like electric fences, boreholes and water pans in the Tsavo ecosystem.
The county has been over the years at loggerheads with the KWS pushing for the park to be converted to a game reserve and its management handed over to the county.
The Taita Taveta county assembly in 2019 passed a motion seeking to push the KWS to remit to the county at least 30 per cent of the more than Sh60 billion collected annually from the park.
The move has, however, been met with a dilemma on how the revenue would be divided among the counties bordering Tsavo National Park if it was to be converted into a game reserve.
Apart from Taita Taveta, the park also borders Kitui, Makueni, Kilifi, Kwale, Tana River and Kajiado counties. Almost all the seven counties have rooted for a pie from the park.
Beside revenue share, leaders also want the agency to be compelled to set aside at least 40 per cent of game ranger vacancies for county residents.
In one of his campaigns in the county on May 24, President William Ruto told residents in an economic forum at Lumo Community Wildlife Conservancy that he would help them mine at the protected area.
He said the national government would work closely with the county to ensure residents are allowed to extract tonnes of precious stones at the park.
“The law allows for mining in the national park with recommendation from the county government. We will ensure the law is fully operationalised,” Ruto said.
He further asked members of the county assembly to formulate policies in line with the Mining Act to protect artisanal miners.
(edited by Amol Awuor)