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{
    "id": 405992,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/405992/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 95,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Pukose",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker, Sir, for giving me a chance to contribute to this very important Bill. First and foremost, I want to thank the Chair of the Committee and her Committee for work well done in yesterday’s presentation. The major areas where there is human-wildlife conflict are mainly for us who come from areas where we have national parks or game reserves within our regions. In those areas, most of our communities have co-existed with wildlife for centuries. We have always had our cattle grazing within those areas together with wildlife and for us we think that the people who graze their animals there are actually the real protectors of the wildlife. When you look at this law, in areas where they are talking about grazing, it states that unless you have authority, it will be an offence to graze. We need to also look at those areas like where I come from in Endebess. We have the Mount Elgon National Park which is very poorly marketed and we have our people who have been living in the moorlands like the Dorobos. They have co-existed with wildlife for many centuries and they graze their animals in the park. We would want KWS officers not to abuse the law because it allows them authority to graze their animals and also ward-off poachers. We also have had loss of crops and human life in those areas. We still think the Committee has tried and as we go to the Committee of the whole House, we want the compensation, especially for loss of life, to be much higher compared to the current rates. This law has been long overdue and people have lost crops. When you lose crops, there has been no mechanism for compensation. As hon. Naomi Shaban has put it, the elephants will come and eat all your crops and, at the end of the day, there are no ways of compensation. The areas where there is much improvement are on formation of community organizations that assist in conflict resolutions in those areas, but this also needs to be much improved because we need to look at ways of having those communities benefit, because once people realize the benefits of the wildlife, then that will also make them to be able to promote it. We also want improvements in terms of wildlife sanctuaries, both national parks and game reserves be done in such a way that other areas are not left out. When you look at for example, Mt. Elgon National Park, it is one of the most poorly marketed in this country, yet the wildlife that is there is very interesting. There are places which I know where you can find about 2,000 buffalos congregating in the morning and it is a very spectacular feature and in the evening there could be about five of them coming back. There are caves which are also within that area, some of them connecting our country to the neighbouring country and others of historical value. I look at this Bill 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."
}