Kajiado Deputy Governor Martin Moshisho wants the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to contain local wildlife in the parks to avert rampant cases of human-wildlife conflict in the county.
Speaking during an event in Poka Kenyawa ward, where elephants have been wreaking havoc for a while, Moshisho castigated KWS for not taking any action, even when residents alert them about the presence of marauding jumbos in their residential areas.
“The residents have to contend with elephants destroying their farms, while living in fear of attacks in their own homesteads, we now demand that KWS takes full charge of the situation, as wildlife cannot supersede human lives,” he said.
However, the deputy governor hailed President Dr. William Ruto for appointing the former KDF commander Lieutenant General Walter Koipaton Raria who comes from the ward as the chairperson of the KWS board.
He urged Raria to look into the escalating cases of human-wildlife conflict in the larger Kajiado as the residents had suffered untold misery for long, due to the menace.
The deputy governor urged KWS to recruit more wardens from the region as they were already used to living with the wild animals.
He added that local wardens, being members of the same community, would be more diligent in controlling stray animals from destroying people’s property.
By Diana Meneto
