This article examines Illegal Wildlife Trafficking and Security Implications in East African Protected Areas: Power, Agency, and Structural Change with a focused emphasis on Kenya within the field of African Studies. It is structured as a policy analysis article that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.