A Nairobi court, Tuesday, fined an employee of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) — an active, regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations in Somalia — Lydie Kayetsi, Sh1 million for wearing ivory bangles, a criminal offence in Kenya.
This is in accordance with article 95 of Wildlife Conservation and Management Act of 2013, which states that “Any person who keeps or is found in possession of a wildlife trophy or deals in a wildlife trophy, or manufactures any item from a trophy without a permit issued under this Act or exempted in accordance with any other provision of this Act, commits an offence and shall be liable upon conviction to a fine of not less than one million shillings or imprisonment for a term of not less than five years or to both such imprisonment and fine.”
Kayetsi was traveling to Mogadishu, the Somali capital where she works with the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) when she was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport wearing the ornaments.
Tests at the National Museums of Kenya confirmed that her bangles were made of ivory as suspected by Kenya Wildlife Service officers who arrested her.
“A research scientist from National Museums of Kenya, Ben Nyakundi, gave his report, which confirmed that indeed the eight bangles were made of ivory,” Prosecutor Daniel King’ori told the court.
Kayetsi told the court she did not know that it was an offence to wear the bangles in Kenya. According to her lawyer, she bought the bangles on a street in Democratic Republic of Congo and did not even know that they were made of ivory.
The lawyer pleaded on behalf of his “remorseful” client, adding that she is a staff of the United Nations and works with Africa Mission in Somalia (Amisom) based in Mogadishu.
However, Senior Principal Magistrate Timothy Okello, in his verdict, said ignorance is no defence.
Illegal wildlife trade and environmental crime is estimated by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to be worth $70 – $213 billion annually, which is comparable to a global official development assistance envelope of about $135 billion per annum.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)-MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) suggests that 15,000 elephants were killed illegally at the 42 sites monitored by MIKE in 2012. The forest elephant population size has therefore been estimated to decline by 62 percent between 2002 and 2011, with number of elephants killed in Africa estimated to be between 22 – 25,000 per year.
Apart from being a large source of terrorism funding in Africa, developing economies also lose revenues in billions of dollars, as well as development opportunities as a result of illegal ivory trade and other natural resources.
