A parliamentary watchdog has sounded the alarm over a growing backlog of human–wildlife conflict compensation claims, warning that thousands of affected Kenyans continue to suffer in silence due to persistent delays and chronic underfunding.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife has failed to prioritise payouts to victims, citing bureaucratic red tape and budget shortfalls that have stalled justice for years.
This comes as the State Department for Wildlife admitted to lawmakers that it is still sitting on thousands of claims; some dating back nearly a decade — reflecting what the committee described as a systemic failure to protect communities living on the frontlines of conservation.
Appearing before the committee chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale on Thursday, Principal Secretary for State Department for Wildlife Silvia Museiya Kihoro disclosed that as of 2023, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) had processed and disbursed only Kshs 3.08 billion in compensation funds between 2017 and 2021, far below the total amount owed to victims.
Despite an annual budget allocation exceeding Kshs 900 million, KWS reportedly received as little as Kshs 65 million in 2018 and Kshs 175 million in 2017.
The PS said this chronic underfunding had forced the government to prioritise older claims dating back to 2014, leaving many more recent cases unpaid.
“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,” the PS told the committee.
According to ministry data, over 20,000 claims remain pending, covering deaths, injuries, and property destruction caused by wildlife.
Historical claims
The PS said historical claims were prioritised, explaining that “older claims have the most weight” and are paid first.
“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.”
“Even though this law was passed in 2013, National Treasury did not release any funds until 2017. The bills accumulated before that,” she said.
She noted that while the current law allows up to Kshs 5 million for death compensation, the government may revise this downward to align with insurance industry benchmarks and fiscal capacity.
The committee heard that as of mid-2023, the ministry had paid out Kshs 2.8 billion in spending bills but had yet to begin payments for claims from 2021–2023.
Compensation amounts vary by county, with areas of high wildlife density such as Kajiado, Taita Taveta, and Narok accounting for the largest share due to frequent human–wildlife encounters.
Members of the committee, however, questioned the PS to come and confirm whether the question of the County Wildlife Compensation Committees (CWCs) actually exist and whether they’re actually meeting.
“In theory, the committees exist but are they actually meeting?” asked Rarieda MP Hon (Dr.) Otiende Amollo
Amollo also questioned the authenticity of the claims reported and paid cited 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 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 complained.
“There’s even a claim for elephant destruction, yet we don’t have elephants there.”
His sentiments were echoed by Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo, who criticised what he termed a “selective compensation matrix,” noting that residents of Busia County have long suffered from crocodile and hippo attacks without redress.
“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 said.
“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 challenged the State Department’s handling of pending bills, citing violations of the Public Finance Management Act, which requires such liabilities to be treated as a first charge in the following financial year.
Funding gaps
“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?”
“Why are you not making pending bills a first charge?” the legislator pressed. “You know the beneficiaries every year. Why not budget accordingly?”
The PS attributed the persistent delays to funding gaps, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and a period when County Wildlife Compensation Committees (CWCCs) failed to meet between 2021 and 2023 after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) froze their sitting and travel allowances.
According to her, 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 PS noted that without allowances, many committees stopped convening, creating a severe backlog.
Despite these setbacks, the ministry reported that KWS had recently cleared more than 20,000 pending claims through an expedited verification process conducted between May and November 2023.
The PS told the committee that the ministry is updating payment records and streamlining compensation through a new digital compensation management system.
However, Mathioya MP Edwin Mugo questioned its reported cost of Kshs 800 million, arguing that the funds might have been better spent directly compensating victims.
“I’ve seen that you are spending Kshs 800 million to pilot a digital compensation scheme. To me, Kshs 800 million sounds 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 Kshs 900 million for compensation, where then is the Kshs 800 million for the system coming from? Does it include the compensation budget as well?”
Dr. Mugo also criticised the lengthy approval chain required before compensation is released, a process that currently moves from the CWCC 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 further argued that because KWS conducts “about 90%” of the verification work, they should be authorised to process payments directly.
In response, the PS acknowledged the inefficiencies and confirmed that the ministry was open to devolving payment authority back to KWS once the digital system is operational.
“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.”
The PS also hinted at upcoming legislative reforms 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,” she said. “We are therefore reviewing the law to make compensation faster and more sustainable.”
The MPs, however, maintained that delayed justice was no justice at all. “If a family loses a loved one in 2022, and payment comes in 2030, what good is that to them?” one lawmaker asked. “We are here to make Kenyans’ lives better not to offer endless explanations.”
