The government has paid Sh10 million under a new tech-driven model to compensate Kenyans affected by human-wildlife conflict in a move designed to enhance transparency, fairness and speed in processing claims.
Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary (CS) Rebecca Miano said the ministry is currently processing 804 pending claims that is part of their ongoing effort to improve the response times and restore public confidence in the wildlife conservation efforts.
“This system is both about efficiency and the restoration of dignity to those impacted by human-wildlife conflict. It is also about rebuilding trust in a shared conservation vision. We at the Ministry believe that true progress when dealing with human-wildlife conflict is in empowering communities,” she said.
She added that under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act (2013), the government has revived County-level Community Wildlife Compensation Committees (CWCCs) to decentralise claim assessments which helps make the process more accessible and transparent.
The new model that has been piloted in six counties is set to leverage real-time data collection and verification tools to fast-track claim approvals.
The claim payments that are below Sh100,000 will be processed through mobile money platforms like M-Pesa to minimise delays.
The government has disbursed over Sh4.8 billion in compensation since 2018, with Sh2.8 billion issued under the current administration, however, the ministry says with a backlog of 20,000 claims that is valued at Sh1.36 billion the ministry admits more needs to be done.
According to a three-year analysis by the ministry, the top ten counties experiencing the highest number of human-wildlife conflict incidents are Taita Taveta leading with 6,293 incidents. Other counties include Laikipia (4,479), Kajiado (3,196), Meru (1,451), Marsabit (1,373), Nakuru (1,136), Kilifi (1,041), Kitui (1,037), Kwale (948) and Isiolo (897).
