Balala wants snake bites removed from wildlife compensation list

Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala wishes for the de-listing of snake bites as part of the compensation claims as they are proving to be too costly.

In an interview with Citizen Extra, Mr. Balala said the bill currently stands at Ksh.15 billion and the ministry doesn’t have the budget to handle each conflict especially those that involve snake bites.

According to Balala, 70% of the applications made are by people who claimed to have been bitten by a snake.

“We don’t have a budget for it. People have applied for it. For example, over 70% of those applications is if you are bitten by a snake then you are compensated upto Ksh.3 million. We have to de-list snake bites as part of the compensation or this country will go bankrupt,” he said.

The CS pointed out that the current human-wildlfe conflict is one of the biggest challenge after poaching saying that the reason for this current conflict is due to human expansion and development activities.

Mr. Balala responded to remarks made by Kajiado Governor Joseph Lenku a month ago, of threatening removing the stray elephants within two days, failure of which the Maasai people will take matters into their own hands.

“It’s easy to put a blame like that but it is the humans who have occupied the animal lands,” said Mr. Balala.

The former Mvita MP called for unity in addressing the matter. He appealed on the political leadership in the country and the people to engage in order to find a solution to the matter.

“It is the biggest agenda I have on my table and we need to address it together as a people,” said the Cabinet Secretary.