Killings of
our animals especially Elephant by poachers had becomes major menu for newspapers lovers in Kenya in the last
three years, but the nagging question vexing
our minds who are behind the slaughter which had shocked the World.
Even though
poaching is apart of human life even before the birth of Jesus Christ there is sinfully motives behind
Kenyas dying giants and something needs
to be done before it is two late because some powerful people mighty getting rich from poaching
The truth
is that poverty of memory is another problem facing Kenyans even for those
in academia and politics because for we
who depends on history and documented materials
slaughter of animals in Kenya is not new Kenyans witness the killing of
animals which so politicians and KWS officers lead by Dr Leaky and politicians
crashing through media
It is true Kenya’s elephant population is diminishing
rapidly and there is no doubt that poaching has become a major contributor to
the decline in numbers. I re call in 1988, September, a major controversy broke out
between the then minister of tourism and wildlife, Mr. George Muhoho and then
chairman of the East African Wildlife Society, Dr. Richard Leakey, regarding
where responsibility lies for the increase in elephant poaching around the
country, as well as the ministry’s role in protecting wildlife, especially the
endangered elephants. Muhoho called a press conference at the National Museum
of Kenya (of which Leakey was director) in Nairobi to announce that 92
elephants had been killed by poachers over the last four months. The minister
expressed ‘regret’ over the killings and promised that the ministry and indeed,
the government, would do their best both to track down the culprits and to provide
protection for the beleaguered animals. He told
a well attend press conference that time I was stringer with KANU
Kiswahiri publication Kenya Leo
Muhoho
expression of regret and promises were, however, quite inadequate to placate
ardent conservationist Leakey, who called a press conference of his own
immediately after the minister’s, in which he denounced the ‘lip’ which he
believes was being paid by the ministry of tourism and wildlife to the cause of
wildlife conservation in the country. Leakey called the poaching a ‘national
crisis’ of great magnitude and challenged Muhoho to tell the nation the truth
about the killing of elephants in Kenya.
The next
day, Muhoho issued a harsh report to Leakey’s charges, and the dispute
threatened to escalate into a personal quarrel between the two men. In his
press statement, Muhoho deplored Leakey’s attitude, and that of the East Africa
Wildlife Society (EAWS). Muhoho said that Leakey had attended his Nairobi press
conference but had contributed no information nor offered any clarification of
what was said. He went on to challenge to name any “high or low ranking person”
involved in the poaching of elephants, in reply to implied criticism by the
EAWS that the ministry is protecting some of its own officials who are known to
be involved in the poaching.
The
minister also wondered why the society should doubt the validity of the figure
of 22,000 elephants in the country given by Muhoho in his press conference in
Nairobi.
Leakey was
not to be muzzled and wasted no time issuing his rejoinder; the minister, he
said, had already received a confidential document listing the names of people
involved in poaching, which Leakey said had been issued to the minister by the
officials of Tourism and Wildlife about a month earlier. “I am reliably
informed that the matter is being investigated by the police and as such it is
the minister who should name names,” Leakey retorted, according to the Standard newspaper on Wednesday lSeptember
1988. “I know the minister got a copy of the document, I did not get one.”rolled
Dr Leakey on behalf of animals lovers
As the
public controversy between the two men continued, it became nastier and more
personal. The following day, Muhoho called another press conference in which he
denounced Leakey and Mr. Brian Cushing of the World Wide Fund for Nature, for
“implying that the Kenyan was doing nothing to preserve elephants in the
national parks” The minister went on refer to Leakey’s attitude as a “cheeky
white mentality” that holds that only whites are concerned about the
conservation of wildlife. In making his racial remarks, the minister carefully
avoided mention of Mr. W. K. Rotich, who was secretary to the East African
Wildlife Society, and who was equally critical of the ministry’s performance in
wildlife conservation. And in his own defense, Muhoho said that when he took
over as minister for tourism and wildlife, he removed several high-ranking
officers in the ministry who were found to be colluding with poachers, and
pledged that the purge would continue until “all suspects are removed.” On the confidential report Leakey referred to
containing the names of the suspected poachers, Muhoho declared that there was
“nothing new” in it, contrary to what “some people would like Kenyans to
believe.” In the same breath, he admitted that it contained the names of
suspected poachers, and that his ministry has been acting on the report by
investigating the activities of all those named.
If this is
indeed so, then it is apparently taking a long time to make the results of the
investigations known or to have them produce any of the desired effect.
Conservationists remain unconvinced that the ministry is doing much to stop or
even reduce the poaching of elephants in the country, and suspect that there
must be powerful people involved in the current spate of poaching to explain
the ministry’s seeming tardiness in
dealing with the poachers. The minister’s failure, so far, to provide adequate
answers to the conservationists’ concerns has further hardened suspicions that
the whole truth about poaching in Kenya may be far grimier than the government
is willing to admit.
Enters in Dr Olindo, the man whose onerous
task of protecting the country’s wildlife as the director of wildlife conservation and management, says that he
backs fully the statements made by Muhoho on the situation of elephants in the
country. During an interviews with media
in his office in Langata in the outskirts of Nairobi, Olindo said that the
figure of 22,000 elephants in Kenya is authentic and can be verified
statistically, scientifically and through field counts. Olindo contends that
the figure of 20,809 elephants contained in the Global Resource Information
Database (GRID) of the United Nations Environmental Program’s Global
Environment Monitoring System (GEMS), of June 1987, does not include areas such
as Mt. Elgon and Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare Ranges that are not gazetted as
national parks. “The national parks form only a small of the area of the
Aberdare Ranges and Mt. Kenya; together with Mt. Elgon area, which has been
left out (by the GRID count), there should be another 3,000 elephants.” Olindo
said. He dismisses a suggestion by Leakey that the government conduct an
elephant census every six months as ‘expensive and impractical’
By then Dr
Perez Olindo was among the leading Kenyan expert in animals matters whose
contribution in protecting of our animals cannot be forgotten in a short period
even though he is a poor man after
entering into politics
With Dr
Olindo out of policy makers and Leakey doing his own business and recently joined ODM group in quest for
referendum time had come to look into historical background of poaching in
Kenya
Even though the government had introduced hash
law including shooting poachers high fine there is no change meaning powerful
force behind poaching and nagging question remains who will save our animals
francisilahakai@gmail.com
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