Government to reinstate compensation to snakebite victims - CS Balala

Tourism CS Najib Balala has given a glimpse of hope to the victims who have been bitten by snakes across the country.

Balala said on Monday that the ministry is working out ways to reinstate the compensation to snakebite victims.

The CS spoke when he launched the Human-Wildlife Conflict compensation payments at the Snake Park in Lake Baringo, Baringo County.

He said the compensating of the affected families is important in mitigating the impacts of human-wildlife conflict.

Balala said in the next six months, the compensation application will be online, and the app will be connected to the E-Citizen platform.

“We are working on digitising Human-Wildlife Conflict compensation applications, to improve the accessibility of information and workflow for timely payouts,” Balala said.

During the event, Balala appealed to the international community and donors to raise funds for compensating human-wildlife conflict victims.

Balala was accompanied by the Tourism CAS Joseph Boinnet and Tourism PS Fred Segor.

The compensation to snakebite victims was removed in the new Kenya Wildlife Service policy on compensation which was meant to enhance wildlife conservation, security and address the perennial human-wildlife conflict.

The policy saw the removal of snake attacks from the compensation list after KWS raised concern over high compensation claims.

The state is currently compensating the victims attacked by the cheetah, buffalo, hippopotamus, elephant, lion, leopard, wild dog attacks as well as crocodile.

During the last International Snakebite Awareness Day 2020, it was approximated that 5.4 million people are bitten by a snake, out of which 2.7 million are injected with venom.

During the awareness which is marked on September 19 annually, it was revealed that snake bites lead to 400,000 people being permanently disabled globally.