Kenyan minister exonerates the Masai tribe from killings of lions
Posted on | juni 27, 2012 | 2 Comments
Kenya’s Forestry and Wildlife minister, Dr Noah Wekesa Tuesday exonerated the Masai tribe from the recent spate of killings of lions accusing instead people he called ‘economic saboteurs’ out to wreck the country’s tourism industry.
Speaking in Nairobi at the first regional conference on forest by the International Union of Forest Research Organisations and the Forestry Research Network of sub-Saharan African (FORNESSA), Wekesa said the Masai who have lived with the wild animals for generations know the economic importance of lions and wildlife in general and “it is puzzling as to why they would rise up against wildlife now,” he said.
“There are a group of people out to economically cripple Kenya’s economy, and not the Masai. These people are merely camouflaging as Masai but we are doing our investigations,” he said.
He said the Masai have known the importance of the lions living in their midst. The Masai have always lived with the lions. They are a group of economic saboteurs. The masai as they are known understand the importance of wildlife.
“A lion today is so much worth to Kenya in terms of the economy and the government is so concerned of the development,” he said.
He said the government has taken strategic measures to deal with the matter. It plans to take to parliament a Wildlife Draft Bill, which had been pending for some years now but got delayed with the promulgation of the new constitution.
Following the constitutional development, the Attorney General called for withdrawal of all bills to allow for harmonization with the new constitution.
Wekesa said that the recent development has forced the government to move with speed to have the Bill redrafted with stiffer penalties.
“This has been done and the Bill is now queuing up for cabinet discussion,” he said.
Wekesa said the Bill allows for adequate compensation for livestock loss, damage to crops and addresses the issue of punishment.
“Any death or loss from wildlife, will be properly be compensated,” he said.
Currently, livestock damage is paid Ksh50, 000, human death is paid KSh200, 000 and no compensation for crop damage.
As it is today, the punishment is light and offenders can kill a wild animal and pay Ksh50, 000 with a smile and st6ill return to kill more.
As a short term measure, the minister has instructed KWS to remove all the lions in people’s wildlife sanctuaries back to the government-managed national parks.
“This will however affect the communities as they have also been benefitting from the wildlife sanctuaries they have created.
Wildlife experts say 70 per cent of Kenya’s wildlife is in community lands.
The government is also engaging communities to create wildlife corridors to allow wildlife to move. So far, corridors have been done in Kwale and Aberdares and allow wildlife to move freely as they search for water and pasture without interference from settlements.
Meanwhile, Wekesa has called for use of modern technologies to resolve challenges Africa faces in the conservation of her forests.
He said scholarly demand often appears out of tune with reality where quick solutions are needed.
Pointing out that forests are endangered by poverty and illiteracy, Wekesa said only research can step in with workable solutions despite poor funding.
In bid to help improve on forest cover , Wekesa said the government has engaged the private sector and local communities to conserve and restore degraded forest areas by enacting a law that requires at least 10 per cent of land both in public and privately owned is set aside for trees.
AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com
Blog this!- Bookmark on Delicious
- Recommend on Facebook
- Tip on Hyves
- Share on Linkedin
- Share on technorati
- Tweet about it
-
Print for later
-
Bookmark in Browser
Comments
2 Responses to “Kenyan minister exonerates the Masai tribe from killings of lions”
Leave a Reply
juni 28th, 2012 @ 02:06
How crazy does that sound , I would not call the slaughter of 6 lions a spat , and then use a figment of Dr.Wekesa’s imagination to blame a non-existing saboteur
juni 28th, 2012 @ 21:43
He should have first gone on national TV to help calm the situation. Silly statement made at an intl conference almost a week after this incident happened. Those people are not stakeholders of Kenyas wildlife or national heritage. The communities and Kenyans are. He should have been addressing the people of Kenya first of all to avoid more bloodshed , speculation and anger from growing locally.
It is both frustrating and disappointing to see leaders who are clearly in denial and out of touch with reality. Where was he all this time or his assistant or other govt leader ? Why did he not go visit the people of Kitengela ? Is he not the minister in charge of KWS ? These are some of the reasons human-wildlife conflicts continue, when those with full responsibilty and accountabilty ignore and abuse their duties and offices. He should resign or be replaced.
Kenya needs proactive ministers not people who hide the minute there is a crisis only to resurface when the dust has settled. Even ghosts are economic saboteurs when one wants to blame others. Time they get their act together and stop wasting peoples time.