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MP Opposes Plan to Move Elephants to Tsavo Park

The Nation (Nairobi)

June 21, 2005
Nairobi

A Tourism assistant minister has opposed plans to transfer 400 elephants from Kwale District to Tsavo East National Park.

"Both Tsavo East and West parks have about 10,000 elephants and adding some more will be adding insult to injury," Mr Boniface Mganga said yesterday.

According to him, a leaders' meeting to discuss the transfer of the elephants failed to take place on Saturday because a Kenya Wildlife Service director did not inform the Ministry of Tourism on time.

"I was invited for the meeting on Wednesday evening and as the area MP I was ready to attend only to realise that neither my minister nor the PS was aware," he said.

The assistant minister said he had made his stand known to the Government that Taita Taveta did not need any more elephants because the existing ones were "a thorn in the flesh of farmers." He asked the Government to control the movement of the elephants already in the parks before adding some more.

Taita Taveta Wildlife Forum coordinator Donald Mombo accused the Government of not being transparent on the project.

He said the project would never be acceptable in the district unless the community benefited directly from money raised through park gate collections as promised by President Kibaki early this year during his tour of the district.

Mr Darius Mombo, the treasurer of the Kenya Human/Wildlife Conflict Management Network, said the Government should carry out an environmental impact assessment and consult area leaders before making any decision on a project of such magnitude.

The project, estimated to cost Sh210 million, is scheduled to start next month.

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