jumbos saga

Kenya Wildlife Services yesterday blamed increased suffering of wild
animals in various sanctuaries and forests in Laikipia and Samburu
regions to continued encroachment of Lake Ol Bolosat Conservation
area.

Speaking at Manguo swamp where a mature female elephant and male hippo
had got stuck in muddy pools in separate areas, KWS Senior Assistant
Director Mr Barasa Otungah observed that water flowing into the parks
had drastically reduced leading to mass exodus of elephants and hippos
to the mouth of Uaso Narok river.

Mr Otungah was speaking after KWS personnel and Nyahururu Municipal
Council employees successfully rescued the two animals and led them to
Rwathia forest and into the swamp respectively.

“Encroachment of the riparian land has aggravated the problem since
water is diverted for other uses while land around the lake which
serves as pastures for wild animals has been completely depleted by
livestock, he said.

Mr Otunga who was flanked by Nyandarua KWS station Officer in Charge
Mr Dominic Kilonzo appealed to the government to identify one lead
agency which will take charge of rehabilitation efforts around the
riparian zone.

Currently, he observed, Nyandarua County Council had been mandated to
develop the conservation area into a game reserve but had instead
continued to drag its feet giving encroachers a chance to move in.

The land speculators then pay land rate fees annually to the council
and a further lumpsum amount paid to the government’ Settlement
Trustees Fund.

“The council lacks the financial muscle to take charge and our hands
are tied since we have no mandate to protect wetlands. They are under
the Water resources Management Authority and when the water is
polluted, National Environmental management Authority comes in to
address the issue,” he said.

But the blame game is bound to continue since the Environment
Permanent Secretary’s office has continued to sit on a management plan
proposal forwarded two years ago which sought to be empowered to form
an all inclusive management committee that will spearhead conservation
efforts.

The proposal is yet to be gazetted to give teeth to the proposed
management committee which will also identify the farm-riparian land
boundaries with a view opf erecting a fence around the 4300hectare
area.

Yesterday,Mr Otunga said the conservation area served as the largest
hippo sanctuary in Central Province and called on an end to the blame
game saying it was leading the animals to slow painful death.

“The lake has dried up forcing the hippos number 276 to follow the
water course down Uaso narok river. This is their home and it must be
protected. These wild animals are a national heritage and Kenyans must
stop viewing wildlife conservation as a KWS job,” he said.

A recent survey shows that 243 internally displaced families have
cultivated farms along the shores of the lake’s upper water catchment
area next to the Kirima Settlement Scheme while another 85 families
bought a 10 acre piece of land on the poorly drained lower side near
kasuku trading centre.

His is amid protests from Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni, Ol Kalou MP
Erastus Mureithi and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta that the area was
riparian land and was unfit for human habitation.

Mr Kenyatta said it would be wrong to create another Mau Forest in
‘Central Province’ where gans onforest conservatuion continue to bear
fruit after a 400 kilometre fence was erected around Aberdare ranges.

Mr Kioni blamed the encroachment on unscrupulous land owners who
illegally acquired land on the riparian section and deliberately sold
it off to unsuspecting IDP families.

Mr Kilonzo said that hippos continued to wreck havoc in the farms
neighbouring the lake since they had no food and were starving.

“Yes, there is drought and it has affected people and even wildlife
but we have worsened the problem by encroaching on pastures and water
which have for ages provided wild animals with a last resort meal. If
this trend continues, then expect the human-wildlife conflict to
increase,” he added.

Mr Otunga said there was need for a management committee be formed and
that boundaries be identified so as to enable conservation measures to
be put in place adding that this was the most effective way to stop
encroachments.

Todate, land buyers continue to be issued with title deeds for land
that is even under water and only take possession when the water line
recedes, only to sell it to unsuspecting land buyers and flee. But
when the water volume increases, the families are forced to flee to
higher grounds or risk drowning.

Former Nyandarua County Council chairman Mr John Matheri asserted that
they was need for the government departments to co-ordinate and stop
the allocations that are normally done in Nairobi without consultation
with government officers on the ground.

For instance, in 1995, the riparian land meant for conservation
measured 10,000hectares buit by 2002 the same had reduced to
4300hectares owing to dubious allocations and it has currently recued
to 3700hectares and the allocations are still going on.

If implemented, the newly formed Lake Ol Bolosat Game Reserve would
create a natural corridor for jumbos crisscrossing from Samburu via
Laikipia then into Lake Ol Bolosat game reserve and into Aberdare
National park.

As the seesaw blame game continues and delaying tactics continue among
government officers, the only Lake in Central Province providing
water for 14million people in four provinces is at stake.