The county government wants a share of the revenue collected from the Nairobi National Park by the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Members of the County Assembly last week passed a motion urging City Hall to engage the State so that it can jointly manage the Nairobi National Park and share the revenue earned.
Dandora Two MCA Silas Matara, who moved the motion, was concerned that the county got nothing from the park yet the wildlife facility is in the devolved unit.
According to him, the management and operations of the park are under the National Government, contrary to the spirit of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution.
"The county does not share any revenue from the park," Matara said and cited the Intergovernmental Relations Act, 2012 which provides for the establishment of National and County Governments Co-coordinating Summit, a forum for consultation and cooperation between the two levels of governments.
He said the Petroleum Act 2019 and Wildlife Management Act 2019 say that communities that live around natural resources should benefit from them.
The MCA said a county like Turkana shares oil revenue with the National Government at the rate of 20 and 75 per cent respectively while the community gets five per cent.
“We in Nairobi have several challenges. ... sharing revenue raised from the Nairobi National Park is going to help the county to meet its obligations," Matara argued.
He also mentioned Makueni and Kajiado as counties which, however, do not get revenue from national parks in their areas.
That should not discourage City Hall from demanding a share of the Nairobi National Park revenue.
“I know it is going to be possibly a huge task because from experience, when it comes to distribution of resources from National Government, it's a challenge. But all we can do is try,” Matara said.
In May last year, the Taita Taveta County Assembly petitioned the KWS to remit to the county at least 30 per cent of the over Sh60 billion collected annually from the Tsavo East and West parks.
Matara commended Governor Granton Samboja for being at the forefront in seeking for signatures to push for a revenue sharing deal with the KWS.
“It’s time this county benefits from the Tsavo West National Park. It is sad that more than 62 per cent of our county is in the park, and yet we get nothing from it,” he Samboja is reported to have said.
- mwaniki fm
