KAJIADO COUNTY-Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku has attributed the deaths of 20 elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem to a type of grass locally known as “murua”, rejecting claims that cyanide poisoning was responsible.
Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on Sunday, September 13, 2026, Lenku said findings from researchers with extensive experience in the Amboseli ecosystem pointed to the grass as the likely cause of the deaths.
Lenku dismissed claims by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) linking the deaths to cyanide, describing the explanation as misleading.
“The story is false. Completely false,” Lenku said, referring to the cyanide claims.
The governor said the murua grass had grown excessively following unusually heavy rains, raising the possibility that the elephants died after consuming large quantities of it.
He cited researchers David Western and Cynthia Moss, whom he said have studied elephants in the Amboseli ecosystem for decades, as supporting the view that cyanide was not responsible for the deaths.
Lenku also defended tomato farmers in Kajiado against allegations that chemicals used in horticultural farming may have contributed to the deaths.
He said tomato farming had been practised in the county for generations and questioned why the farmers’ activities were now being linked to the deaths.
The governor further argued that livestock such as goats frequently enter farms after harvests without experiencing similar effects from the agricultural chemicals.
Lenku criticised KWS over its handling of the matter, saying the agency does not cover the entire Amboseli ecosystem. He said KWS operates in only a small section of the wider ecosystem, while the area extends far beyond the approximately 82,000-acre Amboseli National Park.
He also highlighted the need to expand wildlife corridors and dispersal areas, saying the Maasai community had set aside about one million acres to support wildlife movement.
Lenku called for further investigations involving researchers who have long studied the Amboseli ecosystem, rather than relying on what he described as incomplete conclusions.
“It was wrong for KWS to mislead the country and say cyanide is what killed the elephants. It is not. It is that murua grass that had killed the elephants,” he said.
The governor said he hoped no more elephants would die, noting that the deaths remain a major concern for the Kajiado County Government and local communities.
