Why Molo residents are setting aside room for animals within their houses

A boy gets his animals into their room. [Photo: Collins Oduor/Standard]

Nakuru, Kenya: About a week ago, a deputy chief was brutally attacked and injured by unknown assailants in Kasarani, Elburgon, Nakuru County. It was not the first such attack in the village but the fact that a chief, the symbol of Government at the grassroots, was the victim has left residents worried.

They are spending sleepless nights because the chief’s attackers are still at large.

Elburgon Location chief Johnson Kamau Mungai says he too longer sleeps well at home and that he has received several threats from strangers. He says the attack on his deputy was meant to intimidate villagers.

“We chiefs were warned to either slow slow down on security measures or surrender our lives. These people have made lots of money from theft and that is why they are intimidating the local administration,” says Mungai.

In light of this threat, Molo residents have come up withways to lock out the thieves, who target livestock, by setting aside rooms within their houses for their animals.

Mercy Gitari, a resident of Turi Farm in Molo, says marauding thieves roam the area at night stealing animals.

Sheds abandoned

“We no longer leave our cows in the sheds the way we used to. Thieves are on the increase and so to be safe, we lock them inside our houses,” confirms Gitari.

Affected areas include Kuresoi, Michatha, Valley Farm, Kiptororo, Casino and Kibunja, all within Molo. A number of families living along the borders of West Pokot and Trans Nzoia counties sleep under the same roof as their goats and sheep at night due to the fear of rampant stock theft.

Says Talau Location chief David Biwott: “People feel their animals are safer close to them. They erect beds using poles on which they sleep while the sheep and goats sleep underneath.”

Traditionally, some communities kept their animals in the house as a way to protect them from attacks by leopards and hyenas, says James Plapan, a resident of Kodich.

This worked, and still does, for those with small herds. Those with larger herds were forced to sleep outside to provide security for their animals.

A local administrator, Joseph Korkimur, attributed the renewed trend of keeping animals in the house to frequent raids as well as ordinary theft.

Korkimur said he has handled cases where hides and skins of missing animals have been found in local butcheries where thieves sell the animals to unsuspecting butchers.