Makueni County orders water vendors' donkeys out of town

WOTE: A county government has banned the use of donkeys by water vendors on the streets.

Makueni County has threatened water vendors using donkeys in Wote Town with stern action, saying the service is no longer needed.

Water, Environment and Irrigation Executive Douglas Mbilu said the county had revamped the town's water distribution system, effectively rendering vendors out of service.

The county further directed landlords to connect their rental houses to the water distribution system, threatening to punish those that failed to do so.

"We are also putting on notice Wote Town landlords who are yet to connect their rental houses to the revamped urban water system, they will be penalised heavily," Mbilu said.

Mr Mbilu said the directive was part of a process to enforce a notice issued by the county government in September this year to get rid of unlicensed donkeys, cows, goats, pigs and dogs from urban centres.

But the chairman of water vendors association, Gideon Mutua, rejected the directive.

"We are opposed to the move by the county government to remove donkeys from the town because it will render many people jobless," said Mutua.

Mbilu, however, maintained that the county government would not relent in its quest to rid the county headquarters of unlicensed animals whose presence he said was a health hazard.

He said the ban on donkeys was only the first phase of the operation necessitated by public health concerns.

"We have started with donkeys, tomorrow we shall come for cows and goats, and in one week's time we shall have cleared this town of all animals that are not licensed to co-exist with humans in the urban centre," he said.

Donkeys loaded with water containers are a common feature in Wote Town, where they are used to draw water from the nearby Kaiti River for distribution to the town's residents.

Last week, county government officials rounded up around 100 donkeys roaming in the town, prompting angry water vendors to demonstrate at the governor's office.