Residents cry foul over decoy killings by rangers

By JOB WERU

Nyeri, Kenya: The resurgence of poaching in parts of the country has created unlikely victims in Nyeri where it is claimed that for every rhino killed, a villager dies or disappears.

A week ago, Joseph Maina Ndung’u, 48, visited The Standard offices in Nyeri to complain over alleged death threats by KWS and Solio Ranch rangers.

Mr Ndung’u fears he could soon join the growing list of villagers who have been gunned down on allegations of being poachers.

He claimed the rangers have on three occasions visited his home in Village Two and met his wife, whom they told to prepare to bury her husband.

“Last Friday, they came for the third time and asked about my husband’s whereabouts. They said our house was built on proceeds got from sale of rhino ivory, and showed me a spot in my farm where I will bury my husband if he fails to report to KWS headquarters in Mweiga,” said Rose Nyambura, Ndung’u’s wife.

Ndung’u has since been living in fear, and has even stopped spending nights in his house, which he says he built using funds he received after selling two of the five-acre farm his father bequeathed him at Rumuruti in Laikipia County.

“I sold two acres and got money to buy timber and iron sheets. But it seems when they discovered I had built a new house, they suspected I could be involved in poaching,” he said.

Ndung’u and other residents in the settlement scheme have raised alarm over increased cases of killings allegedly perpetrated by KWS rangers.

His fears are real. On the evening of February 12, this year, Mzee Joshua Ngatia Mbogo, 65, received a call on his mobile phone as he milked his cows.

He hastily finished the chore and handed over the milk to his wife Damaris Wangare, before excusing himself to go and meet a friend nearby.

Wangare says that was the last time he was seen alive.

She waited the whole night for her husband in vain.

The following morning, she alerted neighbours and her children who mounted a search for her husband who had also been appointed a village elder in Village Two of the expansive Solio Squatter Settlement Scheme.

Police report

“Later that day, we were called by police and informed that his body was lying at Nyeri Provincial General Hospital mortuary,” said Wangare.

Ngatia was killed after seven bullets were pumped into his body by rangers at Solio ranch, a world renowned rhino sanctuary.

He was shot dead by the rangers alongside another man whom KWS officials claimed was an accomplice in rhino and elephants poaching.

KWS officials, led by Mountain Conservation Area Assistant Director Aggrey Maumo claimed the two were armed with a Mark IV rifle loaded with three rounds of ammunition as well as arrows and a pair of pliers.

But Ngatia’s family has rejected the theory with Wangare lamenting thus: “He left knowing very well he would come back. He did not even take a walking stick and I wonder where he got a rifle and the other weapons they claimed he had.”

Another widow, Lucy Wangui Muhia, is yet to recover from the grief occasioned by the killing of her husband George Mwangi Nderitu, a police officer attached to the Central Bank of Kenya, Nyeri branch.

Nderitu’s career in the police service was ended brutally after he was shot by rangers in Solio ranch.

Other suspects

On January 18, barely three weeks before Ngatia’s murder, two other suspected poachers were shot dead in the same ranch.

The spate of killing has kicked off a controversy, with bereaved families and former Government Pathologist Moses Njue dismissing KWS claims that the men they had gunned down in Solio were poachers.

Dr Njue, who conducted a post-mortem examination on Nderitu’s body, said the bullet wounds could have been sustained from close range shots. He had injuries on his palms, indicating he might have been trying to defend himself from his assailants.

James Mwangi, who operates a bar in Solio scheme, claims rangers have been terrorising patrons in the social places.

The harassment, complaints and the spate of killings have raised fears of extra-judicial killings perpetrated by KWS officials at the wildlife conservancy.

Mr James Maina Mugo, the executive director of social watch Futa Magendo Network said the villagers have been living in fear, while Solio ranch management has turned hostile to neighbouring communities.