Kenyan authorities are holding a Zambian woman who was arrested at the Kenya Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi with worked ivory.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said Kabanje Liseli Mwananguku was arrested on Wednesday evening for wearing ivory bangle weighing 100 grams with an estimated 30,000 shillings (300 U.S. dollars).
“She was intercepted by Kenya Wildlife Service officers in collaboration with other airport authorities at Terminal 1A departures while on transit to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania,”
KWS said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
The suspect was due to face a charge of being illegally in possession of wildlife trophy at the law courts.
Cases of foreign nationals being arrested with ivory trophies at the airport have become common in recent days posing a major concern to the government.
KWS said its putting in place strong measures across all entry and exit points, border checks and international airports to curb any illegal wildlife activities.
“Members of the public are therefore advised to report any person in possession of ivory trophies and other prohibited wildlife products to the nearest KWS offices or police station,” it said.
Meanwhile, KWS said Joseph Maina Irungu was fined 10,000 dollars or serve five years imprisonment in default for count one of illegally killing a wildlife species (zebra).
Irungu who appeared before at the Nyahururu law court was also fined 2,000 dollars or serve one-year imprisonment in default for the second count of illegally dealing in wildlife meat (zebra) and a further 10,000 dollars or serve a five-year jail term for the third count of illegal possession of wildlife trophy (zebra).
The second accused person, Stanley Chege, was given a cash bail of 20,000 dollars or a bond of a similar amount after he denied the charges.
According to the Wildlife Management Act 2013, any person who keeps or is found in possession of a wildlife trophy without permission, shall be liable upon conviction to a fine of not less than 10,000 dollars or imprisonment for a term of not less than five years or both.
Mwanang’uku is Lozi. Ivory bangles form part of National attire and identity in Bilozi/Barotseland. Government Authorities must intercede in this matter!.
@1 Maano,unfortunately each country has rules. In fact CITES (International Convention for Protection of Endangered Species) to which Zambia is a signatory advocates that “only Elephants should wear Ivory” .So we need to start reforming some of our traditions to be in tandem with some global requirements.
You Lozi’s including Bo Inonge should obtain clearance certificates that those are 100 year old ivory bracelets including the beads around your waists.
For example Bo Ma Innonge can’t take off those bracelets because she wore them when she was a young girl, and overgrown in them.
Balifilwa ukufula… so she always has to prove to any authority that its her heritagy tradition.
Government can’t intervene. Whenever you re traveling to countries like Kenya you need to read up on their laws to prevent being arrested unwittingly
It’s a cultural piece; just like leopard skins, python skins etc among easterners, Zulus, and Masai. UNESCO and Zambian and commonwealth reps should intervene.
Fact Check.Com Every country has laws but CIVILISED governments do intervene when one of their citizens is arrested abroad. Some of you Zambians are just too primitive.
Iwe Anyana it is you who is very primitive because you dont understand how and when governments intervene. Government’s intervention will mean interference with the laws of another country. Government can only wait for the law to take its course. During that time they can supply the accused with legal aid
For crying out loud, her tradition and culture allow her to wear the bangle(s).These things are allowed now. ” President Trump reversed the decision to allow elephant trophies imported from Zambia and Zimbabwe, pending further review.” Release the woman and fine her $150.00
Kenyan authorities take wildlife conservation seriously .Our Zambian laws ,the Lozi culture & traditions don’t apply in Kenya so let’s respect other nation’s rules.
Have you and the Kenyans you are butt kissing proved that she’s wearing Kenyan Ivory?
Koma pali primitivity pali uyu Anyana. The Ivory doesnt have to come from Kenya. It is banned to wear any form of Ivory in Kenya period. Will you say the man caught trafficking humans was not carrying Britons in his truck. They were Chinese so he cant be arrested in Britain?
He he he he olo ati I got the marijuana from South Africa where it is legal so in Zambia you cant arrest me
Bulali Shopett. You are very shallow illogical. The fact that no Lozi has been arrested in Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, UK, etc should tell you that wearing an Ivory bangle is not equivalent to human trafficking. It is only Kenyans and Ethiopians who arrest people for wearing Ivory artifacts. Please desist from making shallow and ill thought comparisons.
Swap her for chi esther lungu
wearing ivory bangle weighing 100 grams with an estimated 30,000 shillings (300 U.S. dollars)???
Was she wearing the money too?
This is absolute stupidity, Kenyans are just being foolish! These bungles are usually inherited from parents to their children, we never arrested Arap Moi for wearing those warthog teeth in his mouth!
Worth 300, blimey, is it like a half a tusk or something?!
Kenya is just grandstanding, as the toughest in the region, really……..send the
woman back to Zambia with her tusk bangle and we can soap them off her hand.
Koma bala fikoshya kuma Airport yabo. Going for the small fish while the big ones are on the loose. How about intensifying efforts to check trailors and shipments leaving the country instead? Also start to retrieve all those artefacts illegally plundered by colonialists now displayed in European museums.
Our diplomatics services shoul intervene. Education should be instituted to prevent these unfortunate situations. That is our elephant not theirs. Free her.
If the ivory was raw and direct from the Elephant tuskers and probably hidden in a sack, I would understand. Not processed ivory into bungles worn on one’s wrist. It’s a tradition in Zambia among the Lozi’s and among some elite groups to wear Ivory bungles as a symbol of wealth. Please leave Mrs. Liseli Kabanje alone.