By Jackie Adhyambo
Today, Monday the 26th day of May 2025, President Ruto will turn a new chapter for Kenyans affected by human-wildlife conflict. His presence in Meru to grace a compensation event will close a chapter of a past riddled with painful experiences but now giving way to a hopeful future.
As Kenya’s model of dealing with human-wildlife compensation undergoes radical transformation, there are examples worth taking note of in other jurisdictions. In the examples I will share shortly, speed, transparency, and community integration occupy the centre stage. Leading models, such as India’s Wild Seve programme, use technology to streamline claims, combining mobile apps and data analytics to reduce delays and ensure timely payments.
In Nepal, for instance, decentralised committees verify claims locally, enhancing trust and reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks. Additionally, insurance schemes such as Namibia’s predator-proof boma initiatives shift financial risks from individuals to collective pools, thereby ensuring long-term sustainability.
In Botswana use of radio broadcasts and local liaisons to educate remote communities, help in overcoming literacy barriers and ensuring equitable participation of affected communities. By integrating technology, prevention, and community agency, these models have transformed compensation from reactive payouts into tools for coexistence.
Today’s issuance of compensation cheques by President Ruto is a gesture that transcends monetary value to become a symbol of national reckoning. Today, we turn the page from what came through as neglect to justice. For years, Kenya’s compensation for human-wildlife conflict got stuck in a labyrinth of endless bureaucracy.
Victims of elephant raids, lion or crocodile attacks navigated a Sisyphean ordeal of paperwork, with their claims often stalling for years. Thankfully, President Ruto’s administration has pledged to prioritise compensation to victims of human-wildlife conflict in an unprecedented way.
In 2023, the National Wildlife Conflict Resolution Framework digitised claims, devolved verification to county committees, and made it a rule that payouts get disbursed within 90 days for minor injuries and 180 days for fatalities.
On the payment score, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano in echoing the spirit of the 2023 framework implores that speed is the currency of community trust in matters of human-wildlife conflict.
The reforms on human-wildlife compensation extend beyond individual healing. Already, a multi-million shilling fencing initiative has erected elephant-proof barriers around conflict hotspots, reducing incidents by 50% in Tsavo and Amboseli. Meanwhile, the Wildlife Conservation and Community Trust Act (2023) allocates 25% of park revenues to grassroots projects that include clinics, schools and water pans. This partnership arrangement binds communities to conservation.
President Ruto, however, remains undeterred in his quest to ensure that a healthy balance between the needs of human beings and those of animals and especially for communities that coexist with wildlife is maintained.
In opening a new chapter, President Ruto has done more than settle debts. He has rekindled faith in a Kenya where people and wildlife are not adversaries, but allies in shared survival. The road to coexistence is nigh.
Adhyambo is a Nakuru-based knowledge management consultant.
