Wildlife conservancies in Laikipia County are staring at an increment in levies as the devolved unit seeks to increase its annual own source revenue to more than Sh1 billion.
One of the strategies being considered by Governor Joshua Irungu’s administration is an increase in land rates, up from the current annual charges of Sh20 per acre as well as taking a share of the gate entrance fee paid by tourists.
More than half of Laikipia’s land mass is occupied by wildlife conservancies, some measuring up to 100,000 acres with tourist cottages where local and international guests holiday, paying more than Sh100,000 per night stay.
Conservancy owners pocket all the entrance fees paid by the guests and the only revenue the county government gets is in form of land rates.
This is unlike other popular tourist destinations like the Maasai Mara National Reserve where the Narok County Government gets a share of the revenue.
Mr Irungu’s administration is in talks with the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife to come up with modalities on how the conservancies could be taxed so that the community, some of whom are victims of human/wildlife conflicts, can reap the benefits of wildlife conservation.
Tourism Principal Secretary Silvia Museiya confirmed that her department was in consultation with the devolved unit on levying taxes on conservancies.
Benefit directly from the wildlife
“We know Laikipia as one of the popular tourist destinations in the country. As a ministry, we are exploring ways how you can benefit directly from the wildlife and the tourism industry. We are in talks with Governor Irungu on how taxes on these conservancies can be increased so that there are funds to support community conservation as well as compensation on human/wildlife conflicts,” said Ms Museiya.
Mr Irungu said besides the introduction of taxes, the land rates would be raised as the devolved unit targets to increase annual revenue from Sh800 million to Sh1.3 billion by the close of the current financial year.
“For a long time, ranchers and individuals with huge chunks of land have been paying Sh11 per acre as annual land rate and it has only increased to Sh20 per acre recently. These charges are still low and we shall put the necessary legislation to raise the charges to be in tandem with the prevailing economic situation,” said the governor.
Plans to have taxes introduced on the conservancies and tourism establishments have been welcomed by local residents and their leaders.
Umande Ward MCA Daniel Mugweru said the move is long overdue noting that some foreigners were operating tourism hotels inside and outside conservancies under the guise of private homes.
“I know of a big house in my ward with 18 guest rooms and it is frequented by foreign tourists where the guests are charged Sh25,000 per night. The government needs to come up with a mechanism on how to get revenue from such business enterprises since we cannot station revenue officers in the so-called private homes,” the ward representative said.
Mr Mugweru whose ward has borne the brunt in wildlife attacks especially elephants straying from Lolldaiga Conservancy said the introduction of those taxes, which would trickle back to the community, will encourage the locals to embrace wildlife conservation noting that currently, they do not appreciate the value of wildlife heritage.
