Legislators furious as unpaid wildlife payout claims hit Sh3.5 billion

The backlog of human-wildlife conflict compensation claims and payment is ballooning as Kenyans continue to suffer.

Cash-strapped government indicates payouts too high and wants legislation to lower amounts.

The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday deplored what it called the acute exchequer underfunding that has pushed thousands of people to the edge physically, mentally and financially because of deaths in their families, physical harm and devastating property and crop damage by animals.

The watchdog committee chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale faulted the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife for failing to prioritise the claims, thereby stalling justice to the victims.

The ministry, under which Kenya Wildlife Service operates, was appearing before the oversight committee to answer queries raised by the auditor general¾key being the non-payment of claims.

In its 2022-23 findings, the auditor general said the ministry is yet to pay thousands of claims amounting to Sh3.5 billion.

Tourism PS Silvia Kihoro said that as of 2023, the Kenya Wildlife Service had processed and disbursed only Sh3.08 billion in compensation between 2017 and 2021, far below the total amount owed to victims.

Despite an annual budget allocation to the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife of more than Sh900 million, KWS reportedly received only Sh65 million in 2018 and Sh175 million in 2017.

Kihoro said the underfunding had forced the government to prioritise older claims dating back to 2014, leaving many more recent cases unpaid.

“We have people who have been waiting since 2014, and it is now 2025. We began with the 2014, 2015 and 2016 claims and have been working our way forward. However, we are currently processing claims from the 2020-21financial year,” Kihoro told MPs.

“This means compensation for people in our constituencies who were killed or injured by wildlife in 2021-22 and 2022-23 has not yet begun.”

The ministry said more than 20,000 claims remain pending, covering deaths, injuries and property destruction caused by wildlife.

“We pay on a historical basis starting from the oldest claims but the truth is that sometimes next of kin die before they even receive the compensation. We are proposing a new law to make payments more realistic and affordable to the government,” PS Kihoro said.

“Even though this law was passed in 2013, National Treasury did not release any funds until 2017. The bills accumulated before that,” she said.

The PS acknowledged that the current law allows as much as Sh5 million for death compensation, however, she said the government should consider revision to align with insurance industry benchmarks and fiscal capacity.

The committee heard that as of mid-2023, the ministry had paid out Sh2.8 billion in pending bills but had yet to begin payments for claims from 2021-23.

Compensation amounts vary by county. Areas high wildlife density such as Kajiado, Taita Taveta and Narok counties accounting for the largest share due to frequent human-wildlife encounters.

MPs questioned the PS on whether County Wildlife Compensation Committees (CWCs), in fact, exist and are working as intended.

“In theory, the committees exist but are they actually meeting?” Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo asked.

He also questioned the authenticity of the claims reported and paid. He cited numerous discrepancies between reported payments and actual incidents in the field, including missing records of deaths from crocodile and hippo attacks in counties such as Siaya and Busia, where cases are frequently reported.

“Your reports show only one crocodile-related death in Siaya for the year, yet I know of at least 10 cases in my constituency alone,” Amollo said.

“There’s even a claim for elephant destruction, yet we don’t have elephants there.”

Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo criticised what he termed a “selective compensation matrix”, arguing that residents of Busia have long suffered from crocodile and hippo attacks without redress.

“Around September 2021, there were hippo attacks in Busembe and Busito where several people lost their lives and we buried them. Yet, these cases were never captured in the compensation claims,” he said.

“Even before that, we experienced numerous crocodile attacks. So why is compensation selective? Or is it that the lives of the people of Busia don’t matter?”