Taita Taveta residents clash with KWS over community shrine

Tourists on holiday at Tsavo West National Park. Residents of Maktau want an electric fence that was constructed to minimise human-wildlife conflict rerouted so that they can regain access to their traditional shrines. [File, Standard]

The fencing off of community shrines in Maktau, Taita Taveta, is to blame for the devastating drought in the county, elders have claimed.

The elders and local leaders told Environment and Natural Resources Principal Secretary Margaret Mwakima that it has become impossible for them to gain access to the shrines to perform important traditional rites and rituals since the fighi, as the shrines are known locally, have been cut off after KWS fenced the area.