Conservationists urge Kenya to tighten legal system to curb poaching

Wildlife conservationists on Thursday called on the Kenyan government to streamline wildlife trials to achieve inter-agency cooperation. The conservationists from the WildlifeDirect said Kenya's legal system has led to a culture of impunity within the criminal fraternity which may account for the escalation of poaching of elephants and rhinos and trafficking of ivory and rhino horn. In its report titled "Scoping study on the prosecution of wildlife related crimes in Kenyan Courts" launched in Nairobi on Thursday, the organization called on the government to empower magistrates to actively manage wildlife cases from first appearance to conclusion of case. "Our study of wildlife trials in Kenyan courts reveals that we make it easy for poachers and dealers to operate in our country," said Paula Kahumbu, Executive Director of WildlifeDirect who is the lead author of the report. "This leniency in our courts has led to a culture of impunity within the criminal fraternity, and Kenya has become a safe haven for international criminal cartels who control poaching and trafficking in our country. These people are destroying our economy, our heritage and our image," she said. Although thousands of poachers have been arrested for killing elephants and rhinos in recent years, the study found evidence of only 8 convicted poachers being jailed between January 2008 and June 2013. Despite major seizures of ivory at Mombasa ports, no case in court could be found for this period. All offenders are bailed at a fraction of the value of the wildlife trophy, even in cases of repeat offenders. The study noted that 65 percent of all wildlife offenders plead guilty and penalties on conviction are fines of 0.034 U.S. dollars to 465 dollars. Fewer than 4 percent of all convicted wildlife offenders ever go to jail. Experts believed that nearly 100 elephants are gunned down each day across Africa to supply thriving illegal ivory markets mainly in the Far East. At this high and escalating rate, WildlifeDirect predicted that elephants will disappear from the wild across most of Africa within ten years. "Wildlife crimes threaten the very stability, security and economic aspirations of our nation," said Philip Murgor, Advocate and Former Director of Public Prosecutions and Board member of WildlifeDirect. "This report comes at a critical moment of hope for Kenyans, as the new Wildlife Conservation and Management Act becomes operational, but the law alone is not enough, it will remain as impotent as the last one, unless failings in the law enforcement chain from investigations to court are addressed," Murgor said. The report recommends that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should handle charging decisions on all elephant ivory and rhino horn cases in the East African nation. It also urges the Chief Justice to designate special wildlife courts to handle cases in priority areas. The study commissioned by WildlifeDirect, looked at court records in 17 Kenyan courts adjudicating on wildlife related crime between January 2008 and June 2013. The report finds that wildlife crimes are often weakly prosecuted and subsequently are treated as petty crimes and attract very lenient penalties. According to the report, magistrates sent only 3.6 percent of convicted offenders to jail. According to the report, poor case management is hindering the prosecution of wildlife related crime as 70 percent of the case files were reported missing or misplaced in the courts. The report notes that despite enabling legislation, under wildlife and other provisions such as the Economic Crimes Act and the Organized Crime Act, wildlife crimes are often prosecuted under the penal code or other less punitive legislation. Kenya's new Wildlife Conservation and Management Act 2013 which came into effect on Jan. 10 aims at address the problem of lenient penalties by imposing a minimum fine of 230,000 dollars or life imprisonment for offenders poaching endangered species such as elephants and rhinos.