Wildlife Bill Kibaki Rejected Had High-Level U.S. Support



The East African (Nairobi)

January 10, 2005
Posted to the web January 11, 2005

John Mbaria And Kevin Kelley
Nairobi and Washington, DC

A JOINT REPORT

THE RECENT refusal by President Mwai Kibaki to assent to the Wildlife (Conservation and Management) (Amendment) Bill halted an international campaign aimed at getting Kenya to open its wildlife for sport hunting, especially the big game.


At the centre of the campaign was Safari Club International (SCI), an elitist hunting club with deep roots in the United States government and Congress.

The US government may also have rendered financial support to local pro-hunting groups through the United States Agency for International Development (USAid).

Besides funding a trip by 23 Kenyan officials to countries in Southern Africa, The EastAfrican can reveal today that SCI had been working together with an affiliate group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) on a proposed pilot hunting project in Samburu.

Following interviews with SCI officials in the US, it has emerged that the organisation had been working with the chairman of IUCN's Sustainable Group for East Africa, Eric Bosire, to set up the Samburu project.

According to the director of governmental affairs and wildlife conservation in SCI, Richard Parsons, the organisation had wanted to show that hunting can benefit local communities and not damage wildlife or the environment. Parsons also said that SCI, which brings together 46,000 members, understands that it cannot move forward with its agenda unless it has partners in Kenya who are working for the same goals.

Mr Bosire, who works in Nanyuki, said, "It is true we have been working with SCI on this project." He revealed that the three-year project was to be based in the Wamba area of Samburu, and its goal was to introduce sport hunting in the area.

"We had banked on the passing of the Bill in order to prove that wildlife utilisation is one form of conservation and that local communities can benefit too."

Mr Parsons said although SCI had not entered into any financial arrangement with IUCN, it had provided "a very small amount of money" to the Kenya Wildlife Working Group (KWWG).

KWWG is an umbrella body that brings together major wildlife forums in Kenya and has offices at the East African Wildlife Society (EAWLS) premises in Nairobi. It is reputed to be the local co-ordinator of the pro-hunting lobby in Kenya.

It has also emerged that SCI was encouraged to pursue the Samburu project by an official at the Kenyan embassy in the US. According to Mr Parsons, SCI officials met with the official two years ago, who assured them that the project would be well received, provided it was carried out as part of a conservation programme and was shown to be beneficial to Kenyans living nearby.

Claims have also been made that through USAid, the US government, which relaxed its own Endangered Species Act (ESA) early last year, thus giving its nationals the green light to import endangered species from other countries, was involved in the pro-hunting campaign.

Wayne Pacelle, director of the Humane Society of the United States, told The EastAfrican that he wouldn't be surprised if USAid were working with the Safari Club to end the ban on big-game hunting in Kenya.

The Humane Society, a large and influential group in the US, is a strong opponent of the Safari Club and does not approve of hunting in general.

Mr Pacelle also claimed that aid given by the US to conservation is aimed at arm-twisting African governments to embrace hunting. He cited USAid's financial support for the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) programme in Zimbabwe. The programme commenced in 1989 and ended in 1999. In that period, Zimbabwe is said to have issued about 150 licenses per year for elephant hunting.

USAid also funded a similar programme in Botswana and committed about $6.5 million to these programmes.

The Wildlife Bill was sponsored by Laikipia West Member of Parliament G.G Kariuki and had the support of top game ranchers in Kenya who operated under the auspices of the KWWG. SCI is reported to have contributed $50,000 for a trip taken by 23 Kenyan officials to countries in Southern Africa.

The group included Kenyan legislators and top officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife.

"We wanted the parliamentarians to see that it is do-able," Mr Parsons said, referring to what he says is the Southern African countries' success in balancing wildlife conservation and big-game hunting while providing benefits for local communities. "To that extent, I suppose we did indirectly lobby on the Wildlife Bill," he added.

SCI is reportedly a big financier of US political campaigns and had, according to the US Humane Society, contributed nearly $600,000 to Republican candidates and about $92,000 to Democrats since 1998. Its members are drawn from various countries but most are in the US.

Its members include former US president George Walker Bush, Norman Schwarzkopf, head of Nato forces during the 1990 Gulf war and more than 20 current members of the US Congress.

Bush, Schwarzkopf and former US vice president Dan Quayle wrote a letter in 2001 urging the Botswana government to scrap its ban on lion hunting.

Meanwhile, KWWG co-ordinator Rudolf Makhanu told The EastAfrican that he agreed with the president's sentiments that debate on the Bill had not incorporated the views of most stakeholders.

"It was not possible to bring everybody on board but most of the people who thought they could be affected in the event the Bill became law volunteered to participate," he said.

Conceding that SCI had been financing the KWWG, Mr Makhanu claimed that international groups including the Born Free Foundation and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) had also funded the anti-Bill lobby.

In rejecting the Bill, the president directed the acting Minister for Tourism and Wildlife Raphael Tuju to prepare a comprehensive sessional paper and legislation, "through a consultative process, which will be debated by Parliament".

The Bill had asked parliament to devolve the powers wielded by the central government over wildlife conservation matters to lower level conservation groupings and to raise the compensation offered to victims of human-wildlife conflict from the current rate of Ksh30,000 ($375) for each person killed to Kshs1 million ($12,500).

"We want to congratulate the government for communicating to all and sundry that wildlife conservation in the country is the business of everybody," said Born Free Foundation's regional director Winnie Kiiru.

The anti-hunting lobby, operating under the auspices of the Kenya Coalition for Wildlife Conservation and Management, had threatened to go to court if the president assented to the bill.

They had said Kenya's wildlife should be conserved because of the role it plays in sustaining the country's Ksh28 billion ($350 million)-a-year tourism sector.

MP Confident Wildlife Bill Will Be Passed


The East African Standard (Nairobi)

January 12, 2005
Posted to the web January 11, 2005

Standard
Nairobi

Laikipia West MP G.G Kariuki yesterday said the Wildlife Bill, which President Kibaki declined to assent to, stood a good chance of being passed when Parliament resumes.

Kariuki said most MPs supported the Wildlife Conservation and Management (Amendment bill) 2004.


Speaking at Rumuruti division in his constituency, Kariuki said the more the bill was delayed the more Kenyans would suffer.

"You will only establish the magnitude of how this problem is affecting the people when you go to the crowds. Most families are relying on inadequate relief food although they can produce enough," he said.


The MP however said President Kibaki was within his constitutional right to refuse to assent to the Bill.

Kariuki said it was the obligation of the government to contain wild animals.

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At the centre of the campaign was Safari Club International (SCI), an elitist hunting club with deep roots in the United States government and Congress.

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WooHoo!!! I'm part of the elite! My trailer park ancestors are sure to be proud.

-Steve