University students lock up dog, say they do not want dogs and chicken in their hostels

A section of students at Maseno university on Saturday locked up a dog and  have now threatened to quit their hostels over what they termed as consistent forceful rearing of dogs and chicken in their hostels.

The three, a fourth year  Bachelor of Agricultural Economics, Education Science and Public Health students are living at hostels offering off-campus accommodation and have said they do not want to squeeze themselves with animals kept by their landlord as they risk being exposed to health risks.

“The compound is small with a 3 meters high perimeter wall and has a concrete ground with its gate ever on lock and key. The animals have our rooms as the only place they can run to whenever they are released and tend to release their waste anyhow”, said Mr. Felix, one of the students.

They have accused the investor, Mr. Makoba alias Chris, of ignoring to heed their request to have the dogs and chicken kept at his own home as it was only a few meters from the tightly enclosed hostels.

“In the previous semesters we stayed with chickens in our rooms and he never wanted us to complain about them making the entire compound refuse strewn but later on the chickens died while we were on holiday and now he has brought dogs just next to our water tap,” said Fuji.

The argument on Saturday night drew the attention of the owner of the 10 rooms housing 20 students who pay Sh14, 000 each semester.

Mr. Makoba, furious with the tenants yelled at them saying he had struggled as a long distance track driver for many years to put up the investment and they had no right to dictate what he kept within the compound as they are only charged for their rooms.

“Be contented with your rooms. What I keep here is none of your business”, said Mr. Makoba.

He insisted that he will still keep the animals as they were no threat to their health in any way as he bought his Dog in Nairobi at Sh2, 500 and had been vaccinated.

“The dog is making a lot of noise because it is still new; else it will be calm and has been vaccinated. It is not a stray village dog as I drove my car from Nairobi with it,” he added.

Mr. Makoba narrated that he was born and raised in the area by his father who worked as a carpenter and could not raise his fees making him herd cattle secretly in the land currently occupied by a section of the university.

He revealed that his struggles were the toughest and asked the students to respect his property as they also have chickens and dogs in their homes.

He advised the three, who stay with their girlfriend to think of keeping one or two chickens as he had sold animals he kept in his youthful days to pay for his driving training.

He urged the then calm students not to peg their success on just being course qualification bearers and think overboard on an extra way of achieving self-development.

The students got a chance to know the surprising part of the houses’ owner who drives to Kigali, Garissa, Daadab and Nairobi transporting petrol.