HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1353645,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1353645/?format=api",
"text_counter": 511,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mukurweini, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kaguchia John",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I stand in support of Hon. (Capt) Ruweida's Bill regarding the amendment on the issue of compensation for people who may suffer loss from the wildlife/human conflict, particularly where the person is hurt, injured or suffers death. As I support this Motion, I would like to point out that we still need to study further the economic and environmental impact of the introduction of this kind of programme in a small economy like Kenya. We need to look at it in view of species preservation, local welfare and habitat conversion. Kenya, being a growing economy, would still have challenges with compensation for all the people who may suffer loss from wildlife-human conflict. Even as we support this amendment, we still need to find ways in which we can support our fishermen and other people whose livelihoods depend on the sea. We need to supply protective gear to the people to defend them against attack by some of those sea animals. The venom from some sea fish like stingrays would easily be kept off from getting into humans, if we had good protective gear. That would save the economy so much regarding the issue of compensation. Nevertheless, should we have that challenge, then we must come up with a way of addressing those issues. That is why I support that we should add more animals to the list that will require compensation, if they attack human beings. I am aware that this Bill looks at human-wildlife conflict in terms of the destruction of crops and other livelihood items for human beings. I will give an example of how velvet monkeys have been detrimental to the farms of the people of Mukurweini. Once the farmers plant their crops, the velvet monkeys attack the farms and destroy all the maize, beans, sorghum, coffee and other crops that are grown in some of those highland areas. This is a candid discussion that we must have as a country. There are people who have put so much into their farms, but do not harvest eventually because those velvet monkeys destroy the crops in the farms. I believe that this is one of the areas that we must address. I have held many meetings in areas like Kihuti, Karundu, Gikondi, Rutune and Mutundu. From the meetings, the entire Mukurweini is now under a very serious attack by velvet monkeys. This is something that we must address. We also have interesting dynamics in those areas. During the day, there are attacks by velvet monkeys and at night, there are wild dogs that attack animals. Many people have had their goats and calves killed by wild dogs at night. Somehow, the KWS has not handled those issues. One is left with questions as to why KWS cannot trap those wild dogs that have killed so many of our animals in our constituencies, particularly in Mukurweini. I do not want to add much on this, but I insist that we need to widen the scope even more. As we look at this matter, we also need to examine the impact of the actions taken. There was a time when we had a human-wildlife conflict in Kieni, and many elephants were transferred from that area to another locality. The impact of this is that we lost tourists who visit that area because of the attraction of the elephants. So, trying to prevent this conflict might cause a net welfare loss to our people at some point. We need to look at the general overview of this, especially the compensation aspect, and see how it can be effected. This is not only to people who are killed, hurt or injured by those animals, but also the crops that are destroyed. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I recently visited Mfangano Island. It is a beautiful place. Once we protect our people, we boost their confidence that when they go to the deepest parts of the ocean, they can be compensated in case of any happenings. In Mfangano Island, 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."
}