KWS devolves operations to 47 counties

By Phillip Mwakio

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has started devolving operations to serve the 47 county governments.

KWS Director William Kiprono said the wildlife agency posting senior wardens to take charge of the counties.

The senior wardens, he said, would be working closely with the County governors to further enhance wildlife conservation agenda.

The director made the remarks during a ceremony to mark the passing out parade for 68 community rangers at the KWS Law Enforcement Academy, Manyani, in Taita Taveta county.

The community rangers have for the last three months been trained at the academy by KWS in basic paramilitary skills, Management Information Systems (MIST), human wildlife conflict, enterprise development, marketing and services, compensation claims and procedures, as well as the KWS organisational structure and operations among other disciplines.

“The training is an important part of KWS function under its community enterprise development programme to build capacity of landowners who host wildlife to actively engage in sustainable wildlife conservation,” the director said. 

He said focus has been on practical wildlife management strategies, basic paramilitary training to standardize protocols of command structures and reporting procedures.

 Kiprono challenged the recruits to use skills acquired to counter poaching cases across the country. He warned that poachers have since gone hi-tech and are using sophisticated weapons to advance their tactics.

Kiprono said the agency in collaboration with the Kenya Police Service is in the process of facilitating issuance of firearms to community rangers to fight poaching.