Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime at a past event. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
An MP has been drawn to a tag of war pitting Mwatate residents and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) over the Tsavo National Park boundary.
Mwatate residents accuse KWS of “taking away their land” while building an electric fence preventing wild animals from crossing into people’s farms to destroy crops.On Sunday, Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime said KWS should move with speed to demarcate the boundary between individual farms and the national park to end the persistent wrangles.“KWS should map this area and establish where the national park’s boundary begins and ends,” he said in Mwatate town.“My office has received complaints about people’s pieces of land curved into the park. I support the building of the fence but this shouldn’t mean that people lose land.”KWS has been building an electric fence at the Tsavo National Park to bar wild animals from invading people’s farms. The fence’s construction has, however, elicited resistance from a section of Mwatate residents who claim parts of their land have been curved into the park.Two weeks ago, Mwadime urged government to allow his constituents exploit mining opportunities at the Tsavo National Park. He said legally communities living around national parks are free to exploit opportunities within the parks.He, however, said Kenya Wildlife Service officers deployed at Tsavo harass residents who go there to seek for opportunities to better their lives.Mwadime said he would push for the passage of legislation legalizing mining at national parks. He said the mining activities will be controlled to protect the environment.The legislator said his constituents are not allowed to look after cattle inside the park unlike other national wildlife reserves like Maasai Mara where members of the Maasai community are permitted to drive livestock into the park to look for pasture and water.