CS Peninah Malonza faces protests in her Kitui South backyard as jumbos invade farms
Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza.
Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza is facing a problem of elephant proportions after an estimated 100 jumbos from the Tsavo East National Park invaded farms in her Kitui South backyard.
The stray elephant herds have so far killed three people in more than two months they have trampled on farms, destroyed crops, disrupted learning in schools and caused untold fear and panic among local residents.
The CS, who deals with human-wildlife conflict incidents from all corners of the country, is now facing protests from a community that includes her neighbours and relatives who have borne the brunt of the brutal invasion.
The elephants have been roaming the Mutha, Ndakani and Ngaani farms in Kitui South, barely 20 kilometres from Ms Malonza's home in Itumba village, Mutomo.
Efforts by local Kenya Wildlife Service rangers to scare the elephants away have been in vain.
Residents say they have never seen an elephant invasion of the scale and number they are now witnessing on a daily basis and wonder why one of their own — Ms Malonza, who is in charge of keeping the jumbos within wildlife sanctuaries — has failed to deal with the menace.
Trouble began in early April when an elderly farmer, Munyaku Malivi, was trampled and killed by a herd of elephants he encountered along a village footpath in the Yikisemei area.
Unknown to the villagers, about a dozen different herds of between seven and 10 elephants each had invaded their area from different directions.
Their lives were suddenly turned upside down as what was initially thought to be normal human-animal conflict quickly turned into the painful experience of watching their crops being destroyed.
According to Mr Ngula Longosi, his 30-acre farm was invaded one night and the next morning all the crops he had worked so hard to cultivate were gone — eaten by the elephants.
Scare off elephants
“I was expecting to harvest more than 70 bags of green gram and a similar amount of sorghum and cowpea, all meant for the market to meet my family's needs including food, school fees and medical bills, but all that is lost,'' Mr Longosi explained.
The farmer said he and his wife have been forced to sleep in trees for weeks as they keep watch, hoping to scare off the elephants and save what little crop they have left.
“For two months, I haven't slept in my bedroom as I watch over my crop. I have resorted to sleeping in a makeshift bed on a tree, armed with a powerful torch and pieces of iron sheeting that we beat to scare away the marauding elephants,'' said Mr Longosi.
He sleeps in one corner of their farm, while his wife keeps watch on another tree in the opposite corner, in their makeshift beds made of dried maize stalks.
When the Nation visited his farm in Ndakani area, his wife, Kavemba, broke down in tears as she recounted the pain of watching helplessly as their only source of livelihood was lost to wild animals.
“We don't know how we are going to survive from now until we can harvest another crop from our farm, possibly in February next year. We depend on farming for all the family's needs,'' she said.
She accused Ms Malonza of failing the Mutha community in their time of need by not sending sufficient Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) personnel and aerial support to scare off the elephants.
In the vast area bordering the Tsavo East National Park, local farmers are an unhappy lot, with crops failing for three consecutive rainy seasons due to inadequate rainfall, even though the April-May rains were relatively good.
“We endured a terrible drought for three years when our farms yielded nothing, but when we were blessed with some good rains to make something of our farms, the government failed to stop the Tsavo elephants from destroying our produce,'' said Mr Mutuku Kisingu.
Mr Kisingu led a protest against the government at Mutha market, accusing the CS of turning a deaf ear to their grievances despite the elephant menace affecting her ''own people''.
The affected farmers converged on the local KWS office to present their grievances, where they threatened to withdraw their children from primary schools until the elephants were driven back into the park.
Receiving the protesters, KWS Kitui County Manager Jimale Rashid thanked them for not using unorthodox means to fight the animals and assured them that every effort would be made to resolve the conflict.
Local schools have not been spared, with Ilamba Primary School in Ndakani experiencing a terrifying scare when a herd of seven elephants stormed the school, sending teachers and pupils scurrying for safety.
Pupils attacked
In the ensuing chaos, pupils left their classrooms and ran towards the animals, putting themselves in danger, before families near the school quickly responded to rescue the learners.
Narrating the incident, the school's headteacher, Ms Elizabeth Muli, said she realised the scale of the elephant problem facing the community and what could have happened had the animals attacked the unsuspecting pupils.
“After neighbours helped us chase the animals away, I called an impromptu parade and explained to the pupils the dangers of exposing themselves to elephants,'' Ms Muli told the Nation in an interview at the school.
The next day, parents sought audience with her, asking that their children be allowed to report to school after 9am and leave earlier than usual, arguing that leaving home at dawn was an obvious danger to them.
Ms Muli said that while she understood the teachers' security concerns, she couldn't relax the Ministry of Education's regulations on school hours, but advised the parents to accompany their children to school instead.
According to Mutha MCA Dominic Mwamisi, the community has been very restrained in dealing with the animals because they recognise the tourism value they bring to the country in terms of foreign exchange earnings.
Mr Mwamisi said the area has lost three lives and people have been exposed to danger while enduring wanton destruction of their livelihoods, but not a single elephant has been injured or harmed by the locals.
“Those charged with keeping the elephants in the parks have slept on their job, and sadly the government has taken our civility for granted. We won't tolerate this forever,'' said the MCA.
Mr Wilson Njue, the KWS deputy director in charge of Tsavo East, said the park was dry after the April rains failed, pushing the animals out to look for pasture.
“We have about 15,000 elephants in Tsavo East and the animals have been migrating from the lower Tsavo areas near Voi, to the north side of Kitui South in search of water and pasture where the rains have been better,'' Mr Njue said.
Climate change
The chief warden explained that KWS was dealing with a more complex phenomenon of climate change, where animals are confined to parks that are bare and without water, and the drought is expected to be worse in August and September.
While climate change is a national crisis, Ms Malonza will have to do more in terms of compensation to appease people in her backyard in southern Kitui who are facing unprecedented conflict with starving wildlife.
Read: Farmers count losses as marauding elephants invade farms
During a recent tour of the area, Ms Malonza urged citizens to co-exist peacefully with wildlife while the government tackles the problem that has affected several parts of the country.
She said the animals deserved to live as much as humans and therefore needed to be protected, attributing the problem to climate change, which had led to drought.
In a bid to find a lasting solution to the conflict, the CS hinted that her ministry has entered into an agreement with the Kitui County government to use South Kitui Game Reserve, which borders Tsavo, as a holding area for animals fleeing the drought.
A memorandum of understanding has been drafted and is awaiting signature by both parties where the game reserve will be fenced to ensure that wildlife is kept in conducive conditions,' the CS said.
Speaking in Mwingi on World Desertification Day, the CS said the ministry's plans to secure donor funding for the fence were at an advanced stage.
Animal behaviour experts link the rampant invasion of elephants into farmlands to population pressure and a biting drought in the parks. In an attempt to tackle the problem, KWS has set up water pans in national parks.
Last month, the ministry issued tenders worth millions of shillings for the construction of six water pans. According to an advertisement by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage published in the May 16 edition of the MyGov publication, the proposed Kadecha water pan and Signage 102 water pan are in Tsavo East National Park, while Mgange 2A and Mbuyuni water pans are earmarked for Tsavo West National Park.
