Kajiado petitioners: rewrite 2013 wildlife payouts and move them to counties
Key points
- Kajiado residents, through MP George Sunkuiya, petitioned the National Assembly Public Petitions Committee on Thursday.
- They want the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, 2013 rewritten: higher rates, strict claim timelines, county-level assessment.
- Sunkuiya called the current system underfunded, bureaucratic and too slow to match real crop, stock and homestead losses.
- He said fencing corridors between Mara, Serengeti, Tsavo and Amboseli is “almost impossible”; timely pay is the workable fix.
Thursday in the Public Petitions Committee, Kajiado brought a bill for living next to elephants — and said the 2013 tariff is late and too small. MP George Sunkuiya spoke for residents who want Parliament to overhaul human-wildlife compensation, Eastleigh Voice reported.
Petitioners said families on habitats, corridors and dispersal areas still take deaths, injuries, ruined crops and livestock, smashed homesteads and lost livelihoods while payouts crawl. “The existing compensation mechanism remains ineffective, underfunded, bureaucratic and characterised by prolonged delays, while the current compensation rates do not reflect the true economic value of the losses,” Sunkuiya said. The ask is a rewrite of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, 2013: raise the rates, put a clock on claims, and push assessment and approval down to the county. Committee members floated fences. Sunkuiya said the land sits between Maasai Mara, Serengeti, Tsavo and Amboseli — “to fence it is almost impossible.” Pay on time, he said, or conservation keeps charging the neighbour.
A 2013 schedule is not 2026 maize
Without published average wait times and last year’s unpaid claims, “underfunded” is a speech. Treasury and KWS should table the arrears beside the petition.
Environment desk: Environment. Verified Thursday committee, 2013 Act and Sunkuiya quotes from Eastleigh Voice.
The committee should demand a county-by-county unpaid list. Kajiado should publish how many 2025–26 claims are still open.
Households should keep photos and vet reports; a new Act will still need a paper trail.
Readers should cross-check any deadline, fee, court date or programme claim against primary gazettes, agency circulars and court records before acting on this report.
Official gazettes, court rulings and agency circulars may update these facts after publication; readers should verify any deadline, fee or court date against primary sources before acting.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of the Thursday petition hearing. No amendment has been passed.
