On
the 24 Feb 2015, The Daily Star (KENYA) had a gruesome picture of a dead
elephant on page 28. The page was headed starlife while the picture must have
been deliberate in order to elicit sympathy for the cause of wild life.
(Pause to ponder, who will do the same for the HUMANS neighboring game parks.)
The Standard Newspaper (KENYA) on page 20 named COAST/EASTERN NEWS dated 27
February 2015 also spoke of "wildlife conservation organization targeting
pupils and tutors to stem poaching". All very noble. I support this but, pause
to wonder as to who will sensitize the authorities and those who benefit most
from wild life on the plight of suffering communities neighboring them. I
would like to look at this issue that formed part of my first blog. Perhaps a
testimony will help. I was born of a Maragoli father in Vihiga where the only
wild life is probably a cat that raids homes and steals chicks, eggs and at
times chicken though there is mention of the “night runner’s leopard”. I have a
Taita Mother whose ancestral home happens to be somewhere deep in the
"human part" of the vast Tsavo National Park. (Kenya) My
maternal grandfather was a cattle herder (pastoralist) who kept a large herd of cattle,
sheep and goats. We still boast of them and enjoy the wealth he left behind to
date. Below is a brief and in fact a very brief summary of my life:
· More
than 90% of my 'school holidays’ was spent tending goats in Salaita area
of Mbololo Wangala and Bachuma in Taita Taveta (Coast Province
Kenya) that is virtually part of the Tsavo National Park.
· There
was no conflict between my grandfather or ourselves and wild life in those
days.
· The
people simply hunted game for meat and had developed ways of skirting
around elephants etc
· This
was unlike the professional hunters of those days who were mostly Europeans and
hunted animals for game and trophies to show off with.
· When
Elephants invaded farms, we would make din using sticks and pans to chase them
and they fled back
· The
only real threat to us was the buffalo. Yet again the people would simply throw
soil in the air to check of wind direction and ensure the wind did not blow
from us to the animals. This ensured our safety.
· My
father worked as a station master for the Kenya Railways in Ndii station that
is situated to date within the National Park and between the human part and
animal part of the national Park. Were he alive today, he would testify that
lions at times followed him behind silently as he rode his bicycle
to visit my Grandpas place. (they literally escorted him) It was mainly the
Lioness that moved back off into the bush once he was safely inside. He made sure not to kick the cubs if any.
My opinion: the current conflict
has very little to do with the indigenous people and everything to do with the
way they are treated by the Kenya Wild Life services and those in charge of
wildlife. These communities are the best people to conserve wild life if given
the mandate and if they were to benefit from wild life revenues. The People of
Taita and others next to animal game reserves, animal sanctuaries and parks are
a sad lot. Every time revenues earned from wild life and tourism are announced,
they ask "where is this money." To them, it is a mirage. If my
grandfather were to rise from the dead, he would be a very sad fellow.
The situation today: picture what is currently happening:
· Elephants
are reeking havoc in the Taita area under the very watchful eye of KWS. It
would only take a visit to Mbulia, Ngolia location, Ndii area moving up to
Tausa up to Miasenyi to see destruction to crops with peoples livelihoods
dissipated. These include my in-laws and cousins. The elephants impose a curfew
on people’s movement at will. A cousin informed me that they had reported the
matter and photographs were taken but there was no word yet of compensation
· One
day, the elephants had chased school going children who fortunately ran down a
deep gulley in the ground as they were small enough. The Children had to drop
their bags as they fled. These were then buried under a mound of earth as is the
fashion of wild elephants. I happened to be in the area on a mission, I had
phoned the then area member of parliament (now deceased) to assist before KWS
took action. They had dispatched a team to chase the beasts back into the park.
If not for the MP’s intervention no action would have been taken as reports had
already reached these officers.
· The
animals are protected by an army of heavily armed rangers while their fellow
men do not have the same privileges as the animals. When an elephant dies they moan
BUT when a fellow human being is killed by wild life they issue statements but
take no steps to protect the people. When cattle stray into the parks the
owners are heavily fined and jailed YET when wildlife invades farms they issue
statements that make no sense to those grieving. The most famous statement is
that ‘people have encroached on elephant corridors’ even when the reality animals
foray for food and water far and wide. I don’t support poachers or
poaching but they are still human and I am tempted to pray for their success.
· Every
time they are called to remove wild life from people farms etc their response
is wanting. If they move at lightning speed to arrest herdsmen grazing around
and in parks, why not act as fast to stem the conflict? Why not prevent the
animals from straying out of the Park by electric fence or chasing them back
before they cross over as soon as reported?
MY CONCLUSION: Kenya Wild Life Services (KWS), Animal right
activists, people who benefit from wild life and ministers in charge of wild
life have failed to endear communities of affected areas to wild life and need
a programme to do so to stop poaching.
MY
SUGGESTIONS: We can live side by side with wild life and help curb poaching
·
Not
by punitive laws but by incorporating communities cut out by the same laws into
management of wildlife.
· Not
by arresting herdsmen and harassing those not armed but using them as the eyes
of the KWS.
· KWS Rangers
changing their tactics and watching what they say when dealing with indigenous
communities. Abusive language, disrespect and mistreating communities next to
game only aggravates the situation and making the poacher a more beneficial and
better "partner", a hero and a kind of “robin hood”
THE
SADDEST CUT: There are no human rights groups fighting for the
people left poor, maimed, wounded or dead by wild life. Every rights group is
fighting for some animal as it is more politically correct and puts food on
the table
· Obviously the reason is there
is more money in fighting for animals than people. The sponsors of these groups
perhaps view fellow humans as below the animals. After all, the death and
not arrest of a poacher has never been highlighted as using "excessive
force by security forces”. Yet we hear it even where a policeman risked his
life to save fellow men. Compare the reaction of human right groups when a
poacher is killed and when police gun down a violent robber who KILLS PEOPLE.
They are silent on the former but very vocal on the later.
· It
would make more human sense to me and be nobler if one of the marathons
held every year to raise money to save the rhino was to raise money to put up
electric fences and raise some income to compensate people rendered poor and destitute
by wild life or simply put “to save livelihoods”
MY TAKE ON THE NATION STORY: Teaching
children in far flung areas on the goodness of animals is noble.
· How
would this be for a child who stays awake at night to beat pans and shout their
voice hoarse in an effort to chase stubborn animals that attack and destroy
their crops? It is worse when they go hungry because some hyena ate the chicken
while an elephant cleared the cassava and maize crop. How about taking these
ones to school, building hospitals for them? They would be converted from hate
to radical conservatoires
FINALLY: MY FEELINGS
AND PRAYERS ON THE WHOLE ISSUE
MY LAMENT: The Taita people are an unfortunate people
· They
have never had someone powerful and able to help them like their Masai counterparts
put their case across. Ironically, they have in the past had one of their own appointed Ministers
for wildlife.
Ø MY prayer is
for God to raise a Moses who will champion their plight.
·
Being a member of the community, as I keep my own cows,
sheep and goats but cannot till my land in Miaseni for fear of destruction to
the crop, I can say boldly that I have never seen any great direct benefit that I know of for the Taita from tourism. If any, I would definitel know of.
Ø My prayer is for God to save us from the situation akin to the Midianite oppression
of Israel in the book of Judges so we can enjoy our inheritance.
· Every
time you enjoy a ride in the game parks and celebrate the killing of “poacher”,
remember you are looking at the possible animal that killed the bread earner of
a family on his own farm the night before you spotted it. It could be the
animal that destroyed crops or domestic animals that were to pay school fees
and feed a family rendering them to drop out of school and starve or live from
food aid.
Ø My
prayer is for
God to raise people in KWS and the government who will take the plight of
people affected by wildlife to heart and put solutions in place to save their
lives, crops and animals.
AN ADDITION TO MY SOULUTION: People who live
next to wild life need to be endeared to them.
· The
poachers would then have nowhere to hide as they would not be welcome. Just as
wild life feasts on their crops, let their cattle feast on the grass in the
parks during drought. It does not make sense to see hundreds of thousands of
cattle dying as grass wastes in the parks only for animals to move out and
destroy what has been planted as soon as it sprouts.
·
My
prayer: that
God will make me to be understood and give revelation to the reader from this
blog.
· As
a Pastor, I am aware that God did not create the world to be destitute or
empty. He meant it for all his creation setting boundaries and dividing the
inheritance. I am also very aware of the fact that HUMAN LIFE to God is
precious and the blood of man is the only blood that cried and therefore still cries
for vengeance from the ground (Gen 4:10) and not animals or animal blood.
Animals were given for food. (Acts 11) FOR
SURE EVERY TIME AN ELEPHANT or EDIBLE WILD ANIMAL DIES, WE SEE VILLAGERS
COME OUT WITH MACHETES TO FEAST ON THE MEAT. – What a picture. It proves that
they would equally celebrate if all wild life is eliminated for THEY DO NOT SEE
THE BENEFIT BUT view wild life as an evil nuisance.
FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, LET US ENGAGE THESE
COMMUNITIES AND JOIN THEM IN PRAYER SO THEY CAN HAVE PEACEFULL NIGHTS WITHOUT
THE WORRY OF WAKING UP TO FIND LIVELIHOODS THAT ICLUDE LIVESTOCK AND CROPS
DESTROYED AND GOD WILLING WE WILL SAVE ELEPHANTS AND OTHER GAME FROM POACHERS
BY GOING BACK TO BIBLICAL BASICS
