NAIROBI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will decide on whether to allow game hunting after a new task force launched on Thursday completes its findings and recommendations in the next 60 working days, a government official said in Nairobi.
Najib Balala, the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, said the Wildlife Utilization Taskforce is composed of top wildlife and conservation scientists mandated to advise the government on how best to utilize its wildlife resources to ensure maximum contribution to the national economy.
"We want an objective advice, not one sided. Give us the advantages and disadvantages of each of the recommendations that you make. Our interest is to have the best technical and professional advice so that the measures we take are sustainable," Balala said.
Balala had earlier said Kenya is not about to revive game hunting saying that will hurt Kenya's wildlife reputation.
"We want to keep that respect that we have earned for years," he said in reference to the ban that has existed on game hunting for food or trophy since 1977.
But as the press conference progressed, he said whether the ban will be lifted will entirely depend on the recommendations that the task force will give.
"If we must reintroduce game hunting, the task force will advise us. They need to provide us with various methods of wildlife utilization which can withstand scientific scrutiny and are legally defensible," he said.
The core mandate of the task force is "to review policy and laws on direct commercial exploitation of game", according to the Kenya Gazette.
Kenya currently keeps wildlife exclusively for tourism, a move Balala said has not resulted in maximum use of the resource.
He said the wildlife resource has a huge potential to create jobs and increase the economic contribution of the tourism and wildlife sector into the economy.
John Waithaka, formerly the deputy director of Kenya Wildlife Service, has been appointed to head the task force.
"We have lost much wildlife as a country and therefore we must do everything possible to conserve their habitat. We have lost 82 percent of some species in the last 40 years according to a recent study. This is why any method we can use to restore our habitats to conserve our wildlife are welcome," said Waithaka.
He said what the Kenya government has done is the right thing as it will help to evaluate what needs to be done to sustainably benefit from tourism and wildlife resources.
