Save Amboseli
Open Letter To The Media
and Conservation Organizations from
David Western, formerly the director of the Kenya Wildlife
Service
Degazetting Amboseli National
Park
The degazettement of Amboseli
National Park by ministerial notice is illegal under the laws
of Kenya. Neither the president nor the minister responsible
for wildlife has the power to degazette a national park. That
power rests solely with the national assembly.
Specifically, the Wildlife (Conservation and
Management) Act states that any national parks existing before
1985 are national parks for all the purposes of the act. Amboseli
was gazetted as a national park in 1974. As such, under the
act, Amboseli, like any other national park or reserve, can
only be degazetted if the minister first consults the competent
authority--in this case Kenya Wildlife Service. The minister
must then publish a notice of intent, with details, inviting
objections within 60 days. The intention must be published
in the Kenya Gazette and in at least one newspaper circulating
throughout Kenya. Sixty days following the last publication
of the notice, the order must be placed before the National
Assembly and ratified.
If we concede to the illegal degazettement of
Amboseli National Park, every other national park and reserve,
including Tsavo, Nakuru, Maasai Mara and Samburu, risks being
erased on a political whim at a moment's notice. That puts
our entire wildlife and tourism industry in jeopardy.
If Amboseli can be decommissioned by the Minister
rather than Parliament, all national parks in Kenya will lose
the international standing they enjoy by virtue of being protected
by the highest national political authority.
Any benefits the Kajiado District Council and local community
might get from taking over Amboseli will be short-lived. The
Kenya Gazette Supplement Number 63, which details the proposed
new constitution, states under Section 80 (3) that all public
land, which includes game reserves, national parks, animal
sanctuaries and specially protected areas, shall be held by
the government and administered by the National Land Commission.
Moves were made to degazette 6,000ha of Nakuru
National Park by presidential directive in 1998. As director
of Kenya Wildlife Service at the time, I strongly and publicly
opposed that move on legal and conservation grounds. Much
as I have promoted local involvement in conservation, including
Amboseli National Park, I believe any changes to our protected
area should be done legally and by due political and public
process. The best way to foster local and district participation
in conservation is to strengthen the relevant provisions of
the wildlife policy and act and of the constitution itself.
David Western