MPs raise red flag as wildlife compensation claims backlog hits Sh3.5b

Lawmakers have raised a red flag over the surging backlog of human-wildlife compensation claims further highlighting the continued plight of Kenyans who are victims. 

The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday revealed that the compensation amount has ballooned to Sh3.5 billion even as it faulted the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife over its failure to prioritize payouts to victims.  

The committee led by Butere MP Tindi Mwale cited persistent delays, chronic underfunding and bureaucratic red tape as the reasons behind the historical injustice to Kenyans. 

This came even as the State Department for Wildlife admitted to the House team that it was yet to clear thousands of claims which have accumulated for more than 10 years as victims continue to suffer in silence.  

Principal Secretary for State Department for Wildlife Silvia Museiya had told the watchdog committee that as of 2023, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) had only processed and disbursed Sh3.08 billion compensation funds between 2017 and 2021. 

She said that despite an annual budget allocation of approximately Sh900 million, KWS only received Sh65 million in 2018 and Sh175 million in 2017. 

The PS explained that the continued underfunding over the years had forced the government to prioritize older claims dating back to 2014, a development that had seen more recent claims go uncompensated. 

“We have people who have been waiting since 2014, and it is now 2025. We began with the 2014, 2015 and 2016 claims and have been working our way forward. However, we are currently processing claims from the 2020/2021 financial year. This means compensation for people in our constituencies who were killed or injured by wildlife in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 has not yet begun,” PS Museiya submitted. 

Data from documents tabled before the committee also revealed that there were over 20,000 claims pending and comprised of deaths, injuries and property destroyed by wildlife.  

“We pay on a historical basis starting from the oldest claims but the truth is that sometimes next of kin die before they even receive the compensation. We are proposing a new law to make payments more realistic and affordable to the government,” said the PS.

“Even though this law was passed in 2013, National Treasury did not release any funds until 2017. The bills accumulated before that.” 

She also explained that while the current law allows up to Sh5 million for death compensation, there was need for the government to revise  the same downwards to “ align with insurance industry benchmarks and fiscal capacity.”

She explained  that as of  mid-2023, the ministry had paid out Sh 2.8 billion in spending bills but it was yet to commence on payments for claims from 2021 to 2023. 

Counties such as Narok, Taita Taveta and  Kajiado also account for the largest percentage of the claims due to the high number of the cases reported. 

The Committee members, while also highlighting the systemic failure by the department to protect communities most affected by the human-wildlife conflict, however, pressed the PS over the actual existence of the County Wildlife Compensation Committees (CWCs) and what they were doing to better the situation. 

“In theory, the committees exist but are they actually meeting?” asked Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo. 

He also questioned  the authencity of the claims reported and compensation amounts paid out. He highlighted  numerous discrepancies between reported payments and actual incidents in the field, including missing records of deaths from crocodile and hippo attacks in counties like Siaya and Busia, where he said communities frequently report such cases.

“Your reports show only one crocodile-related death in Siaya for the year, yet I know of at least ten cases in my constituency alone,” Amollo said.  

He added, “There’s even a claim for elephant destruction, yet we don’t have elephants there.”

Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo decried what he termed as “selective compensation” noting that residents of Busia County had long been victims of  crocodile and hippo attacks with no compensation. 

“Around September 2021, there was a hippo attack in Busembe and Busito where several people lost their lives and we buried them. Yet, these cases were never captured in the compensation claims,” he reiterated. 

“Even before that, we experienced numerous crocodile attacks. So why is compensation selective? Or is it that the lives of the people of Busia don’t matter?”

Teso South MP  Mary Emase criticised the State Department’s process of dealing with pending bills noting that it violated the Public Finance Management Act, which requires such liabilities to be treated as a first charge in the following financial year. 

“The PFM Act is very clear, pending bills should be a first charge. You’ve given us many explanations, but why aren’t you prioritising these payments?”  Emase pressed. 

“If you already know the number of claims in a given financial year, why not allocate sufficient funds so that the pending bills are cleared in the following year?”she went on. 

She sought to understand why they did not plan accordingly to ensure that claimants were paid in every financial year. 

The Ps would however explain that the backlog had been brought about by funding gaps, bureaucratic bottlenecks and a lapse in meetings by the County Wildlife Compensation Committees (CWCCs) between 2021 and 2023 following a directive by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) froze their sitting and travel allowances. 

She explained that each county committee, composed of 13 members mostly government officers and only four public representatives was responsible for verifying claims before forwarding them to the ministry. 

The committee further heard  that without allowances, many committees stopped convening, hence the regrettable  backlog.

The PS was however upbeat about the fact that in a bid to remedy the situation, the ministry through KWS had recently cleared more than 20,000 pending claims through an expedited verification process conducted between May and November 2023. 

She also observed that the ministry is updating payment records and streamlining compensation through a new digital compensation management system. 

Mathioya MP Edwin Mugo nevertheless questioned the State Department’s expenditure of Sh 800 million on the digital system arguing that it would have been prudent to utilise the monies in  directly compensating the victims.

“I’ve seen that you are spending Kshs 800 million to pilot a digital compensation scheme. To me, the millions sound excessive,” he said.
 
“You need to explain what exactly this money is being used for because such a huge amount could instead go towards paying victims for losses and damages. If the National Treasury only allocates about Sh900 million for compensation, where then is the Sh 800 million for the system coming from? Does it include the compensation budget as well?”

The legislator also poked holes into the “lengthy”  approval chain required before compensation is released- a process that currently moves from the CWCCs committees to KWS, then to the Directorate of Wildlife, and finally to the Cabinet Secretary for sign-off.

“This process is too long and too costly,” he said. Imagine thousands of claims having to wait for the CS, who already has many other responsibilities. With 20,000 or even 50,000 claims, delays are inevitable. Is there a way to shorten this process?” He posed. 

The House team also questioned why despite KWS conducting majority of the verification exercise, it was not authorised to process the payments directly.  

In a quick rejoinder, PS Museiya noted that the ministry was willing to transfer the payment authority back to KWS once the digital system goes live. 

“From where I sit, there’s not much difference between the ministry and KWS, they are part of the same family,” she said. “If we can make the process seamless, I’m happy to return the payment role to KWS.”

She also told the MPs of plans for the introduction ofa law to revise compensation rates for wildlife-related deaths and injuries, aligning them with insurance industry standards and Kenya’s fiscal realities. 

“Kenyans have told us they prefer prompt payment over large but delayed amounts. We are therefore reviewing the law to make compensation faster and more sustainable,” emphasized the PS. 

The committee however pushed for the prompt compensation of victims to avoid a forestall of justice.