Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku has accused the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) of refusing to implement a presidential agreement on revenue sharing from Amboseli National Park, saying county officials were turned away when they sought to collect the county’s share of the park’s earnings.

Appearing before the Senate Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, July 9, 2026, Lenku said KWS declined to release Kajiado County’s agreed 50 per cent share of park revenue from July 1, despite a deed of transfer signed by President William Ruto in November 2025.

“On the 1st of July this year, which was last week, the county government went to the site to pick their 50 per cent share of revenue, and KWS said, ‘No, we have no instructions.’ And you know these are armed agencies, security agencies, so the county staff was told, ‘Go away,'” Lenku told the committee.

Contradiction of transfer agreement

The governor said the move contradicted the transfer agreement, which handed management of Amboseli National Park to the Kajiado County government and outlined a phased revenue-sharing framework.

Under the agreement, revenue is to be collected jointly through the e-Citizen platform, with proceeds shared equally between the national and county governments during the 2026/2027 financial year. The county’s share is expected to increase to 70 per cent in the 2027/2028 financial year, then rise to 100 per cent from 2028/2029.

Lenku questioned why KWS was allegedly ignoring an agreement endorsed by the president.

“How does KWS come and outrightly defy the presidency? What country have we become? What are these instruments that the president gave, including symbols of animals in Amboseli that were handed to me on the 8th of November, 2025, signifying that the transition has been completed?” he posed.

Amboseli community demands

The governor also argued that the surrounding Maasai community had expanded the conservation area by providing an additional one million acres during the transition period between 2023 and 2025 and was now demanding to benefit from the park’s revenue.

“Amboseli Park is only 82,000 acres. The community, in the transition period between 2023 and 2025, gave an additional 1 million acres because the park is just like a small wetland. The community has come forward to say, ‘Where is the money for our 1 million acres?'”

Senate Public Accounts Committee Chair Moses Kajwang directed the committee’s clerks to summon both KWS and the Kajiado County Government within 14 days to explain the dispute.

“Our clerks will write a letter to KWS and the governor of Kajiado to appear before this committee in 14 days. It is our duty as a Senate to defend and protect counties and their governments because we want to see that Ksh3 billion is going to the county government of Kajiado,” Kajwang said.