Kenyan Edict Threatens Famed Park

Abstract

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki threw Kenya's wildlife establishment into an uproar late last month when he announced that Amboseli National Park, one of the country's prime game reserves, will be turned over to local control. The move, if not reversed, opens the door for the government to do the same with all the country's wildlife and parks, says David Western, former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which has run the park since 1974. “It makes a mockery of our wildlife policies and the rule of law in Kenya,” he says.