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{
    "id": 1045526,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1045526/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 411,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Isiolo North, KPP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Hassan Hulufo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13348,
        "legal_name": "Hassan Oda Hulufo",
        "slug": "hassan-oda-hulufo-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to also contribute to this debate on Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2020 on the Kenya Wildlife Service Policy. I support the adoption of the Report by the Departmental Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and also by extension, I support the adoption of this Sessional Paper. I also happen to come from a county which contributes a lot to protection and conservation of wildlife. As earlier speakers have said, 70 per cent of our life is found outside protected areas. We host these animals at a very high cost. If you look at the number of Kenyans who are seeking compensation from the KWS for deaths, predation, injuries and crop destructions, my county is among the top claimants but unfortunately because of poor financing of the wildlife sector, our Government and the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife are in arrears. I cannot say this policy is timely. Actually, it ought to have come much earlier. I am surprised that as a country we have been guided by a policy paper developed in 1975. It is also unfortunate that in 2003 we came up with a legislation without having a policy to guide formulation and legislation of that Act. Therefore, this policy paper has benefited from wide consultation by the ministry and the State Department of Livestock across the country, which is aimed at addressing shortcomings or limitations of that old policy paper of 1975. There are challenges which the sector is facing. Human-wildlife conflict has become more rampant because the human population has increased and there is continuous change of wildlife which interferes with ecosystems. Of course our wildlife, both plants and animals, are found in diverse ecosystems, on dry lands, on savannahs, in the forests, rivers, lakes and so on and so forth. All these ecosystems have been interfered with. Therefore, if you interfere with the natural ecosystem or the natural habitats of these animals, they are bound to fight back and that is the reason we are having human-wildlife conflicts. To a large extent, what has been outlined in this policy paper will help us as a country to address the issue of land use and by extension the issue of human-wildlife conflict. There are other issues which are of very high concern to us particularly in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, the issue of piracy of our genetic resources. A lot of our plants and animal genetic resources are stolen and we do not have a strong law. Some of these things are done by international syndicates and they are sometimes sneaked outside the country without the communities which have invested heavily in protecting and preserving these resources getting any benefit. This policy has outlined bio-prospecting and utilisation of genetic resources as one of the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}