Alarm over Sh2b unpaid claims for wildlife conflicts

The State Department for Wildlife has raised concerns over the backlog of pending bills arising from human-wildlife conflicts, which currently stand at a whooping Sh2.3 billion.

Wildlife Principal Secretary Silvia Kihoro told a House Committee that the figure is set to increase to Sh5.7 billion because of additional claims awaiting verification for compensation.

Claims emanate from injury, death, and damage to property caused by wild animals. Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Nominated MP John Mbadi, Kihoro attributed the increase in compensation claims to enactment of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act 2013.

The Act, for instance, provides that compensation in case of death be Sh5 million and Sh3 million in the case of injury occasioning permanent disability and a maximum of Sh2 million depending on the extent of injury.

Full amount

“Even where Parliament has allocated funds in the budget, the State Department for Wildlife has not been getting the full amount from the Exchequer. It is always insignificant compared to the number of the claims verified,” Kihoro said.

Kihoro said the increase in claim is despite the government releasing over Sh1.2 billion to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for human-wildlife conflict between 2014 and 2018, including allocations of Sh500 million in 2021 and an additional Sh908 million in 2023, the allocated funds have proven insufficient to meet the pressing demands.

Although Kihoro said plans are underway to establish a long-term solution through the development of an insurance scheme aimed at settling the mounting cases of unpaid victims, she regretted that timely compensation is never made available and when it is made, it is also not enough. “For instance, the State Department had been given an allocation of Sh1 billion but only received an exchequer of Sh350 million which was used to pay part of the claims,” she said.

She added: “Going forward, the government has come up with a scheme called Human Wildlife Compensation Scheme with the current allocation of Sh800 million.”

Kihoro made the remarks when she appeared before PAC to shed light on the Auditor-General’s report for the year ended June 30, 2022 which states that the Department was allocated Sh2.7 billion in respect of unpaid human-wildlife compensation claims.

She said the value of claims approved for payment to date is Sh2.7 billion. Other claims amounting to Sh1.859 billion have been deferred due to lack of relevant documentation, while rejected claims amount to Sh1.506 billion.

“Although the Department paid claims amounting to Sh530 million during the year under review, the cumulative outstanding balance is still growing due to increased human-wildlife conflicts. Failure to settle human-wildlife conflict claims during the year in which they relate distorts the budget and adversely affects the budgetary provisions for the subsequent year as they form a first charge,” the report.
Following the move, MPs said there is an urgent need to compensate victims of human-wildlife conflict as they end up suffering.

Bura MP Yakub Adow, decried lack of seriousness from KWS management in response to victims injured or when farms are destroyed by wild animals as well as lack of compensation to the affected families.