Category Archives: Animals

KENYA: CLERIC DENIES CLAIMS THAT KENYA’S PRESIDENT – ELECT UHURU KENYATTA NARROWLY ESCAPED SNAKE BITE INSIDE HER WORSHIP PLACE IN THE COASTAL WON OF MOMBASA

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

A female cleric has severely criticized the media report over a highly sensational report that a highly venomous African bush-snake almost struck Kenya’s President – elect Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta when he attended the church service with other worshipers in her church.

The incident took place when the Kenyan leader went to worship at a church, which situated at the Coastal port City of Mombasa two weeks ago.

Bishop Mary Kagendo Francis of the Kisimu Cha Mwana wa Daudi church also denied that the reptile had slithered into the place of warship where Mr Kenyatta was seated and was with9n the striking distance, but it was quickly shot and killed by one of the presidential security guards after it attempted to attack the jubilee leader.

The Bishop was quoted by the Kenya News Agency {KNA]as saying she only learnt of the snake story through the media and after some enquiries, but she discovered that it was only a small green mamba snake, which was killed by a young boy using a walking stick.

Speaking in Kitui about 100 kilometers south east of Mombasa after conducting a crusade at her Mlango home, Bishop Kagendo blamed the local media for over-blowing the report thereby creating national storm out of a small incident, adding that wildlife animals are always frequenting as a garden situated outside her church.

“We have monkeys, baboons, birds and occasionally we see snakes at our place of worshipping, but we cannot resort to killing them because we embrace nature,” Bishop Kagendo said.

She said that he church attracts a huge crowd of worshippers at time forcing them into open air prayers where they do occasional interacting with wild animals is inevitable.

He Bishop also down played claims that the snake could have been sent by Mr Kenyatta’s political nemesis or the work of witchcraft was involved.

The cleric, however, vowed to take some actions against those peddled this information terming them as alarmist.

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KENYA: THE KWS OFFICIAL HAS DISPELLED THE DREADFUL RUMOR WHICH ALMOST PLACED PART OF NANDI AND UASIN GISHU COUNTIES INTO DUSK TO DAWN CURFEW ABOUT MAN EATER BEAST

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kapsabet Town.

The dreadful rumor which kicked off two weeks ago later spread like bush fire into the neighboring Uasin Gishu County.

The rumor was about the myth about the existence of the”Man Eater” beast in the region.

The rumor was sparked off following the discovery of a half eaten man Unknown people or person took the photograph of the half-eaten body an posted it to one of the social media outlets, the Facebook.

Earlier this week, the villagers mobilized themselves and while armed with arrows, bows,spears and rungus and other crude weapons went into hunting spree ransacking all the nearby thickets and bushes in search of the alleged ‘Man Eater Beast’.

The incident also kindled an old myth about the existence of a mysterious beast alleged the Nandi Bear.The story o f the existence of the Nandi Bear has remained unresolved for decades, and even during the colonial era, some whites conducted a thorough studies in search of the Nandi Bear’ but never traced the animal, though its existence has remained so famous I the local folk-tales.

The Whites farmers and administrators working in Nandi district had established a social Club called Nandi Bear Club, which is located next to the Nandi Hills town. The Club is one of the most exclusive one in the region surrounded by an ultra modern Golf Club.

The Nandi Bear is known in Kalenjin as “Getet” its mythological existence is associated with clams that the Nandi Bears used to struck into the villages, beheaded people and took away their carcasses.

The myth of Getet was mainly used by nursing mothers in calming heir crying babies or children during the dead hours of the night, by frightening the minors that their cries would attract “Getet” the Nandi Bears to come and kill the family.

After raiding several bushes and thickets the villagers came into face to face encounter with three “Jackals”. They cornered the Jackals and killed two of them, while the third one escaped.

Jackals are smaller than dogs and cannot kill a grown up person. The carcasses of the dead jackals were handed to the officials of the Kenya Wildllfe Services, but nothing like a man eating beast.

A senior KQWS official has discounted the rumor about the existence of the “Man Easter Beast”. He said the deceased who appeared to have been stabbed all over the body by unknown assailants had blood oozing from the stab wounds, and this could have attracted the stray dogs.

The KWS official Joel Kunda said the police in both Uasin Gishu and Nandi Counties were actively investigating those who might have posted the photographs of the half-eaten body to the social media thereby sparking rumors and fears among the population.

The rumor has caused a lot of panicking with parents believing that they should not send their small children to school for fear of being attacked by the ‘Man Easter Beast”Even those fond of visiting the Chang’aa dens have curtailed their movement and chose to remain indoor after darkness.

The rumor has clamped down on what one resident of Chepterit Market Samuel Limo described as “down to Dusk Cufew.

On the other hand it has made young married women happy, especially those whose husbands are known to have been spending long hours of the night in chang’aa drinking den.”They do come home much earlier and even had time for supper with the children before retiring to be, “ remarked Rachel Jebet a mother of four.

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Kenya: Villagers retrieved the half-consumed body of a girl killed by crocodile near Kisumu

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

RESCUERS and search team have retrieved the half consumed body of a 17 year old girl who was killed by a Nile Crocodile as she went to the lakeside to fetch for waters.

Anne Auma was killed early last week, but her half eaten body was recovered last Saturday inside the reed plantation.

The search team was joined by the staff of the KWS. Residents have since appealed to the KWS and the government to hunt down the killer reptile and ensure that the villagers were safe from such attacks in future.

Report reaching us says that there are upsurge of incidents of crocodile attacks in various parts of Lake Victoria. An incident was recently reported around Kokwiri in Uyoma West .Rarieda district where a fisherman was devoured by a crocodile.

Another incident occurred on Rusinga Island in Mbita district. There are numerous incidents involving crocodile attacking and killing domesticated animals such as sheep and goats.

IN uriri district in Migori County a 12 year old school girl who had gone to the River Oyani with her mother on clothes washing mission was attacked and killed by a crocodile.The animal population had declined after the massive hunting down and killing hundreds for their valuable skins in the early 1950s. However, the colonial government reintroduced the reptiles back into the lake in early 1960.

The menace of crocodile attacking human being and animals in Lake Victoria has risen..

Crocodiles feeds on fish, but in the absence of sufficient number of fish in the lake for its feeding it can resort to hunting down human beings and domestic animals for prey..

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THE PLANNED MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SODA ASH PLANT INVESTMENT IN LAKE NATRON HAS SPARKED OFF VEHEMENT OPPOSITION FROM LOCALS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND CONSERVATIONISTS IN TANZANIA.

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

INFORMATION emerging out of the Northern Tanzanian city of Arusha says the battle line is drawn between the environmentalists and conservationists vehemently opposed to the establishment of a multi-million dollar soda ash plant inside Lake Natron.

It says the move is against the background of the report that six foreign firms, which have placed bids to set up a controversial soda ash plant on the shores of Lake Natron.

According to the same source, the National Development Corporation (NDC}, a quasi-government organization, these firms are seeking to set up the USD 500 million factory to exploit a million metric tones of soda ash annually.

Lake Natron a volcanic lake near Engaruka area nearly 220 kilometers from Arusha town have reserves of at least 4.7 billion cubic liters of soda ash.

However, the plan to mine the deposits has been strongly opposed by residents and conservationist who have expressed fears that such a project would adversely affect the lesser flamingos’ population in the area.

The mine is to be set up in the middle of a nesting ground for the one third of the world’s population of lesser flamingos.

A 2010 report compiled by the Wild birds International and Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania had revealed widespread opposition among residents to the planned soda ash mine.

But another report seen in Arusha last week by a team of journalists shows the government of Tanzania is determined to kick-start the project on Lake Natron. The Wetland Management plan and environmental assessment study for the proposed project are set to be completed in June this year.

An August 2012 costs benefit analysis report showed that 75 per cent of local residents were vehemently opposed to the construction of the plant.

The report projected a loss on investment of between USD 44 million and USD 492 million over the next 50 years should the plan proceed. It predicted earnings of between USD 1.28 billion and USD 1.57 billion n over the same period if the government were to instead invest in local tourism and environmental protection in the area.

It is anticipated that the environmental assessment studies will also propose that environmental friendly technology be used to extract and process the soda ash for export, as the government f Tanzania seeks to sidestep the growing environmental concerns.

“This time, the director General of the NDC Gideon Nassari was quoted last week as having said this./me, the government will do all it can to ensure the project is realized as planned,”.

He, however,. Decided to divulge the names of the six foreign multinational companies interested in the project. But said the NDC was still scrutinizing them for the purpose of identifying the most suitable one for a joint venture with the government.

Earlier plan for mining Lake Natron involved Indian firm Tata Chemical and the NDC, but the deal flopped and collapsed.

Soda ash, known chemically as sodium carbonate, is key raw materials for glasses, chemicals, soaps and detergents.

The NDCX says the proposed plant could earn the country up to USD 300 million a year and create more than 500 jobs.

The government will hold a 46 per cent take in the project through the NDC, once it reaches a consensus with any of the investors in on-going negotiations.

For the past six years, the project has been facing vehement opposition from environmentalists and conservationists who argued that setting up the factory near Lake Natron would wipe out the breeding grounds of the lesser flamingo, thus putting at risk 75 per cent of the global population of this near threatened birds species.

“Experience elsewhere shows that the excavation can be done without any harm to the ecosystem,’ said President Jakaya Kikwete while dismissing the fears that the plant will wipe out the flamingos population.

“What matters is the application of environmentally friendly technology to avoid disrupting the flamingos breeding sites. Sometime those who are oppose to the project did not know what it entails. Those opposed to the plant are really patriotic because it seems as if they are agents of some people we do not know. He added,

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KENYA: THREE CHINESE FOREIGN WORKERS WHO WERE CAUGHT RED-HANDED WHILE COOKING STEW OF PYTHON SNAKE HAVE BEEN ARRESTED AND TAKEN INTO POLICE CUSTODY

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

Three Chinese foreign construction workers were last night arrested and placed in police custody pending their appearance in court.

The three Chinese and their Kenyan aide were arrested by scouts and rangers of the Kenya Wildlife Services {KWS}.The incident took place at the Olkaria Geothermal power station project, which is currently under construction about 90 kilometer south west of the capital, Nairobi.

The four were arrested only a few hours after they killing the python. According to the police sources in Naivasha town , the four skinned the snake before cutting it into small pieces to make a stew meat.

The Chinese foreign workers are engaged on the construction site. They are said to have been making big influx into the nearby Hell-Gate National Game Park an area which is poplar with foreign tourists.

The local Maasai pastoralist’s herdsmen had tipped the KWS rangers deployed by the KWS to guard the game park and protect tourist sceneries within the area.

Naivasha Police Chief Paul Korir confirmed the arrest of the three foreign workers and their Kenyan accomplices, adding that they have been released on police bail and would be taken to court within two or three days to answer the charges of being in illegal possession of game trophy, namely python skin and meat.

The Kenya Wildlife Services officers acting on a tip-off visited the camp site where they Chinese were being housed and found them cooking a snake meat. A large number of Chinese foreign workers later flocked the local police station to inquire about the fate of the colleagues.

Koriri said it was against Kenyan laws for any unauthorized person to kill mammals and wildlife that is “why we have arrested them”

There has been hue and cry ever since the great influx of Chinese foreign workers and businessmen into Kenya. Moist of these Chinese are engaged in construction of roads and other projects previous undertaken by international construction firms from the European Union and other Western countries.

The arrival of thousands of Chinese in Kenya is also said to be related to the increases and alarming cases of poachers who have been killing elephants at large to the near extinction of the Jumbos.

A lot of consignments of illegal export of elephant tusks have been discovered while on transit in far places like Hong Kong, Bankok in Thailand, and other foreign capitals. The tusks are believed to have been originating in Kenya, though the country has placed a total ban on elephant tusks trade.

Elephant and both white and black rhinos are classified in Kenya as endangered animals species and are under twenty four hour protection by the government through the KWS. But the poachers armed with deadly and sophisticated weapons are said to be coming from the ungovernable Somalia neighbor, and the Chinese merchants are believed to be working in cohort with the poachers from Somalia.

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Tanzania under heavy pressure from environmentalists to shelve its plan to construct an international airport inside the Serengeti world heritage site

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

INFORMATION emerging from Dar Es Salaam says the United Republic of Tanzania is facing renewed pressure to shelve the construction of an International Airport next to the world heritage and famous Serengeti National Game Park, creating fears of possible delays in the multibillion dollar project.

THE Deputy Transport Minister Charles Tizeba was last week widely quoted by the local media houses as saying that the construction of the airport outside the Serengeti National Game Park is likely to fail because of an on-going campaign by environmentalists to stop the project.

“The government is facing real pressure from some circles, but it will go ahead despite all these,’ he said.

The construction of the USD 350 million airports was expected to start early this year and the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority had approved the project, he added.

The government move to put up the airport included the construction of a 321 kilometer tarmac road through Serengeti. This element was shelved over the concerns that it would interfere with the wildebeest migration, the only one of its kind in the world and crucial to the existence of the Serengeti ecosystem.

The friends of the Serengeti movement have repeatedly denounced having an airport so close to the world heritage site, saying it would attract human activities near the fragile Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.

Opponents of the project have maintained an argent saying that the landing and takeoff of large planes in Mugumu could damage wildlife migration patterns.

“The new airport”, said the Minister, “would offer tourists the option tour KilimanjaroIntrnational Airport and after visiting Tarangire.LakeManyara, Ngorngoro Crater and SERENGETI International Airport to fly back homer”.

Analyists,however, say the airport would increase the number of visitors from 800,000 annually to 1.6 million by the year 2015 and double tourism revenue from the current USD 1.4 million to USD 2.8 million annually in the next three years.

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Kenya: Wildlife / human conflict continues umabayed as the mysterious beast kills 20 livestock while hippo devoured fishermen in Lake Victoria

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Write Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.

LIVESTOCK farmers in the North Rift district of Nandi are having counting losses after a yet to be identified wild animal attacked their stock during dead hours of the night.

More than ten local farmers at Chepterit and Tukon villages in Nandi Central district have reported that several of their goats and sheep had been killed by a wild animal.

The mysterious animal has also attacked more than ten cattle by biting off their tails. Two local farmers who are among the affected farmers said their individual losses were amounting to over Khs 200,000.

Mr Abraham Kago and Mrs Rose and Mr Wesley Saina told the newsmen that the animal, which has been roaming the villages for the last two weeks, had killed a total of ten sheep, three goats and two cows.

The mysterious attack the livestock at night by breaking into livestock shed and biting the throats of sheep and goats. It only sucks blood and leaves the carcasses,“ said Mr Kago.

The farmers said that attempt to hunt for the mysterious for the mysterious animal and kill it have been futile despite assistance from the Kenya Wild life Services [KWS} game wardens an rangers.” Even though we have been working I hand with KWS officers, we have not succeeded because the armed game warden just avail themselves during the day when the beat is hiding,”added Mr Kago.

The game warden in-charge in Nandi County Joel Kanda could no be reached on phone of Central Nandi County. However a local source that KWS men were there on the ground hunting down the mysterious beast.

This incident came barely three months after Tsavo cat attacked livestock in the neighboring Ndalat location in Nandi North district killing over 30 sheep and goats.

Experts were, however, still analyzing the nature of the latest attack on livestock in Nandi, but could not agree on which type of animals could be responsible. Other says it could be a rogue leopard or wild dogs, but leopard is known not to attack big prey such as cows, but only prey on smaller domestic animals such as sheep.

While in the lakeside town of Bondo about 80 kilometer northwest of here, residents of Usigu Division in Yimbo Kadimo Division, Bondo district within Siaya County residents on Monday this week held demonstrations to protest over rampant incidents of hippo on fishermen working on Lake Victoria fish landing beaches. The demonstrators while carrying twigs and chanting anti-Kenya Wildlife Service slogans, the residents led by one parliamentary aspirant William Abuonji marched to the DC’s office to demand solution to their grievances.

The demonstrators claimed they have lost several relatives to hippo an crocodiles attacks against human being, but KWS had taken no action to protect their people

‘We have lost 20 people in the last three months, but KWS has not even attempted check human wildlife conflict here. We cannot afford to lose more lives,”Said Abuonji.

The number of people who have died due to hippo attack on lake shoreline or beaches along Lake Victoria have increase three times.

The protest followed an incident in which a 40-year old fisherman drowned to the lake last week after his boat was hit and overturned by a rough hippo off Siungu Beach in West Yimo location last Sunday night.Two weeks before that a 20-year old fisherman also died from another hippo attack off the same beach.

In September six people drowned in the lake after their boat was hit by hippo at Goye in Bondo and a week later a father & son died between Misori Beach and Magare Island in the neighboring Rarieda district in similar circumstance.

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KENYA: WILD ANIMALS VISITED MESTERIEES AND BROUGHT HAVOC TO THE LIVES OF KENYANS AS LEOPARD AND HYENAS FEASTED ON SHEEP AND GOATS WHILE A WOMAN IS DEVOURED BY A CROCODILE.

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

The last two weeks witnessed the unusually intensified worsening of wildlife / human relations in many parts of Kenya.

Two families of famers in Kiambu County lost 200 graded sheep to wild dogs while in Narok County another farmer is counting his loses after hyenas and leopards feasted on his goats and sheep numbering 110 and worth millions of shillings.

The official of the Kenya Wildlife Service disputed the figures and numbers of animals killed, but made it clear that there will be no compensation payment to the farmer who incurred the heavy loses. The KWS argued the new Act [law][which proposed the compensation to those hurt or killed by animals was still pending before parliament and as such there can be no compensation.

In the small town of Mwatate in the Taita-Taveta County in the Coast Province a herd of buffaloes have imposed a dawn- to -dusk curfew on the villagers who were now living in fear of being attacked and killed by the fiercest African buffaloes.

The herds estimated to be numbering about 30 acre believed to have strayed in the village from the nearby Tsavo West National game Park. Two weeks ago the villagers and the game warden from the KW killed eleven. It was the meat feasting time as the villagers scrambled for the carcasses of the dead beasts.

This is also an area where a month ago herds of elephants had killed three people forcing the KW to use helicopters, trucks and aero plane to drive the Jumbos back to the park. The residents have appealed to the KWS officials to driver the buffaloes back to the park because thee animals have stopped their children from going to school as they roam menacingly from one village to the other charging at anyone on sight.

The logistics of driving the fiercest African buffaloes back to the park could prove to be nightmarish and could not the same like what happened wit the herd’s elephants which politely moved out on hearing the sounds of guns and helicopters. The buffaloes are the most feared wild animals as

In Kiambere in Eastern Province, a Nile crocodile killed a 65 year old woman as she fetched fr water t the Kiambere dam. The incident took place at about 10 AM in the morning. By yesterday the KWS officials were still combing the dam in search of the body of the woman. This is also the same spot where two months ago a 16 year old pregnant school girl was killed by the crocodile. The KWS game wardens were also still hunting for the reptile with intention of shooting to death.

In the Lakeside City of Kisumu herds of Hippos have invaded large acres of maize fields and cassava plantation. The farms areas lying west of the City in Obambo are which is about 8 to 10 kilometers from the City Central Business District {CBD}. Fears now persist that residents of the affected villages might face famine. It is an area which is densely populated and as things stands, the farmers will have nothing to take home at the harvesting time.

Kenya is leading other African nations in East Africa for its wildlife conservations. It has established wildlife sanctuaries and national game parks and reserves

Kenya is also the leading tourist’s destination in the region. The tourist visits its game parks and other sceneries as well as the pre-historic sites.

However, the future of tourism as leading earner of foreign exchange running into billions of dollars seemed to be rather bleak following the recent influx of greedy and shroud Chinese businessmen illegally dealing in Ivory.

The country Jumbo population is now facing serious .The police have unearthed secret illegal consignment of Ivory being smuggled out of the country almost on daily basis.

The favorite tourist attractions included national game parks and reserves, the country’s beautiful coastline beaches, lodges and luxurious hotels established in the National parks

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Kenya: Six fishermen die in Lake Victoria after hippo attack in which they drowned

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SIX FISHERMEN DIE IN LAKE VICTORIA FOLLOWING ATTACK BY A ROGUE BULL OF HIPPO AS THE BEAST OVERTURNED THEIR BOAT UPSIDE DOWN.

Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu city.

A small fishing Goye village in Yimbo Location,Usenge Division,in Bondo district was yesterday in mourning mood after six young fishermen from the village drowned and perished on Monday morning following an attack by a rogue bull of hippopotamus.

Four of the fishermen survived and were rescued. The incident occurred on Monday morning in their home-made canoe when they encountered the beast. It overturned the boat upside down spilling the ten men occupying into the deep water.

The four managed to swim and clung on the overturned boats for several hours. they were later rescued by the crew of another boat and taken ashore to Usenge Beach fishing landing site. Local rescuers had retrieved only one the body of the victims but by Tuesday after five bodies were still yet to be recovered and the search was continuing.

The incident came only hours after close to 100 fishermen who were marooned inside the lake for three days after their path to the shore was blocked by huge water hyacinth weeds for more than twenty four hours were rescued alive and taken to safety.

The incident took place in Rachuonyo North district where dozens of boats carrying close to 100 fishermen were marooned inside the deep water part of Lake Victoria. The rescue was successful following a joint combined effort Kenya Wildlife Service helicopter and the Provincial Administration in Nyanza Province.

Reports emerging from Bondo say the ten men were fishing in the morning when their boat encountered a huge of a rogue bull of hippo that attacked them and overturned their boat.

The area Chie Daniel Tiang’was quoted as saying that the four survivors had lung on to the overturned boat and signaled for help. By the time the help and assistance came, the six had already drowned.

By y the time of writing this report, Bondo police chief said he had yet to receive the report, but promised to dispatch a team of policemen to the scene of the incident t find pout what had gone wrong.

However, the area civic leader Councilor Agrey Dimo decried the increase incidents of hippos attacking and killing his people unabated.

He appealed to the official s of the Kenya Wildlife Service to control the population of hippos in the area to avoid more deaths.

He alleged that thirty people have been killed in hippo attack in a span of three months. The figure of the alleged victims of hippo attack could not be immediately confirmed with both the police and members of the Provincial Administration within Siaya County. However, observers were in total agreement with the civic leader that the number of incidents of attack and killing by hippos have increased I the recent past.

In the neighboring Mbita district in Homa-Bay County, the residents of Rusinga Island have lost five of their loved ones within last year and early this as the results of hippo attacks.

One knowledgeable and long time resident of Rusinga Island narrated t this writer that hippos had no history of harming people quite often. But he attributed the increases of hippo attacks on human being saying it could be attributed to the lost of green pasture and grass along he lake shorelines and weeds also the lake shore to which the hippos feeds too. They are hungry and liked the weeds and grass on which they feed on. One five ton hippo can feed on between one and two tons of grass per day in the normal circumstances. But due top over farming along the lake’s shorelines these docile and heavily built animals are no longer feeding well and hence sudden change of their temperament.

The only incident whereby the hippos can attack human being is when the female that is nursing a male calf which must be hidden to the dominant male father up t it obtain enough strength to fight the father o some time these animals are so destructive in destroying maize or sorghum millets farms that is next to the lake sore. in such a cases a dominant male hippo if provoked by a farmer guarding his farm can urn hostile an attack. But these are rare cases,” he, added.

The incident only came one day after close to 100 fishermen who were marooned inside Lake Vitoria without water and food for three days were rescued by the government using helicopters.

The fishermen had their path back to the fish landing beaches o the lake shorelines blocked by water hyacinth and weeds for three days without water and food were rescued.

The incident occurred in Karabondi Rambira location and Rakwaro Kamwala sub-location in Karachuonyo East location, in north Rachuonyo district within the County of Homa-Bay.

On of the fishermen who was among dozens of fishermen who rescued from the ordeal Joel Atieno Ogola narrated the three harrowing days which they were tapped for close to three days inside Lake Victoria.

He said most of the fishermen were from villages like Kotieno Gumba, Seka, Karabondi, Rakwaro Kamwla and Kogweno Kobala villages as well as around Kendu-Bay Pier. He said he and his team set for the lake on a fishing expedition last Thursday at about 4.30 P.M.

This was after the water hyacinth weed and cleared away from their beaches. Five hours into the lake waters, the previously calm weather was interrupted all of a sudden by a strong winds and storm that triggered panic among his boat’s crew.

Ogola explained that it was like the scenes and situation similar to those seen in the movies. Suddenly we could see from the dim moonlight that were being marooned by the weed that was being blown from both sides.

From that moment, everything turned dark because of the rains that rapidly increased every minute had also started drenching them.

‘All that they could to is to get anything that could protect them fro the rains,” said another fisherman Sam Okoth. When dawn on the next morning and there was enough light, they realized that they had been driven into the deep part and middle of the lake by the storm.

Okoth and his team were shocked to discover they wee not only in the deep part of the lake but they had also been encircled by the thick blanket of weeds,” he said.

They also discovered that they wee not alone in the lake after they counted about 30 boats and canoes which had between three and four fishermen aboard.

One of the fishermen in their boat had a mobile phone. They tried to use it in contacting the Beach Management Units, but the phone had run short of power and could not offer full conversation with the men on the beach. Crew of another boat had a working cellphone and managed to reach the men on the beach. In the middle of the same day, they D.C for Rachuonyo North and the Police chief arrive at camped at Rambira beach. But all of a sudden they saw a helicopter flying low over their heads. At an earlier attempt to raise the alarm for help they stood on the boat and used their jacket and shirts waving so that they cod catch the eyes o those n shoreline but I van.

The helicopter arrival was as the result of combined efforts by the Kenya Wild Life Services “{KWS}and the Provincial Administration. It was decided that energizing food and water be dropped to them as they were increasingly and rapidly become weaker and weaker.

After having been fed the helicopter dropped winch cable which pulled the boat up, but it got broken somewhere, and the gripped them.

It came when they were increasingly getting worried of the huge weeds, which moving also closing in because of the common stories that these weeds is the home habitat of big and dangerous snakes, and they fear had settled on their minds of possible attack, but noting e that happened.

Ogola denied the rumor that one fisherman man had died of exhaustion an hunger. He said they were only getting weaker, but thanks good all were rescued alive and heathy.

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Kenyan man recovering in hospital after the midnight battle with the fierce hyena in the forest

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

A middle aged Kenyan man is recovering from serious injures he sustained following an attack by a wild hyena. The man lost one of his leg in bout with the beast.

The incident took place in Kajiado district on Tuesday night. The man is admitted at the Kenyatta National Hospital where he is undergoing medical treatment. The beast amputated his left leg and took off with it.

Kiiru Kiragu was attacked in the midnight in Oloolua Forest near Ngong a few kilometers southwest of the capital, Nairobi wile he a walking home fro a pub.

The area location administrative Chief Jonathan Keroro disclosed to newsmen that Kiragu managed to free himself from the animals grip, but lost one his legs in the battle.

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KENYA: WORSHIPERS TOOK TO THEIR HEELS AND FLED IN GREAT STAMPEDE AFTER A LION WAS SPOTTED ROAMING ABOUT WITHIN THE CHURCH COMPOUND IN NAKURU TOWN.

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kericho Town.

WORSHIPPERS and faithful too to their heels and fled in great stampede in Western Kenya town of Nakuru about 100 kilometers southwest of the capital city, Nairobi after they found a wild lion had strayed I the church compound the previous night and was roaming about menacingly.

The incident took place last Sunday morning hours when the worshippers had arrived in the church for the morning service at St Nicholas Anglican Church of Kenya {ACK}, which is located at the Lakeview estate, not fat away fro Nakuru National Game Park.

A senior church elder Peter Mungoya told the newsmen that he had been alerted by and warned a fellow parishioner about the danger. The ma told me when I arrived or the morning service that a full grown lion had strayed into the church compound forcing some of the early arrivals to lock themselves inside the church hall.

“The church caretaker told us that he had spotted the lion sneaking into the church compound at about 4.AM {local times}and said the beast had e alerted the officials of the Kenya Wildlife Services {KWS}.

Lake Nakuru National Game Park warden in-charge Joseph Dadacha said the beast might have escaped fro the par after a fight with other lion over territorial disputes.’”We struggle to catch it, but when morning came we could not shoot it a we risked injuring members of the public”,said the game warden.

He said the lion would be relocated and taken to the animal orphanage to ensure its safety. The beast was later sedated. The KW official asked residents to report cases of stray wild animals to the KWS, and captured at the nearby Kimathi Primary School and returned to the game park.

Over the past few months several pythons have been caught in the nearby Flamingo an lake view estates within Nakuru town’s suburbs

At the same time a 12 year old school boy at Ogaka Primary School at Mikei village in Nyatike district within Migori County was devoured by a crocodile.

Distress calls was made by the locals who attracted many people I the nearby villages who managed to retrieve the minor’s body. Area police Chief Richard Bitonga immediately appealed to the locals to be careful when at the Crocodile infested River Migori.

In the recent past several isolated incidents involved Nile crocodile attacks and killing have bee reported in both Migori and Kuja rivers as well as in the nearby River Oyani. The deceased in this particular case had gone for a swim in the in Migori River in the company of two other boy after the school holiday started.

Meanwhile fears persist in NORTHEN Kenya covering following the reports of massive invasion by swarms of desert locusts.

Farmers at Kingilitis irrigation scheme in Loima district have raised fears that their crops yields would be lost this season if the authorities do not intervene.

Pouline Nakala an agronomist working I the region ha appealed to the government and door partners to salvage the situation before it gets out of hand.

“We are immediately sending the experts to go and assess the damage inflicted the crops by the pests we swing into action Province LEONARD Nyambuyathe regional director of Agriculture.

He added, “We are experiencing big loss of crop to the locusts invasion and we expect losing large quantity of crops this season.

Dr Poul Omanga of the Food and Agriculture Organization {FAO}promised that his organization would assist the Kenyan farmers in their fight against the pests. However, all agreed that the appearance of the desert locusts in the region posed a bi threat to food shortage and security I the region and needs concerted effort by all relevant stakeholder to brainstorm together for solutions.

End

Kenya: Human wildlife conflicts have intensified as big cats kills domesticated animals forcing the nomad maasais to take revenge by killing elephants

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo.

WITHIN a brief span of five days the wildlife / human conflict have intensified with report that un-identified wild animals, but suspected to be lions attacked a village within the vicinity of the capital city of Nairobi and killed twenty pigs and piglets worth Kshs 400,00.

This incident came within only to days a report that a rogue leopard strayed in Kirinyaga district and killed ten sheep and goats..

At the same time, residents a village Gatundu district near Nairobi are living in fear after a leopard killed seven sheep at the weekend.

The big cat is said to have strayed into Mrs Lucia Wangari’s compound in the dead hour of the night and mauled the sheep.

‘It was around 3AM when I was watching the Olympic Games on TV when I heard dog barking and sheep bleating. When I went out to check, I saw a leopard. Said Lucia’s son Martin Gakunya.

“When we switched security lights on, the leopard took off and fled and disappeared into the darkness leave behind seven sheep dead.”

Villagers in this particular village reported that the latest attack brings to 15the number of sheep killed by wild animals in this area in the last two months..

Another farmer, Patrick Kamau, said last month, the stay leopard killed five sheep, and three others belonging to his brother. The farmer bitterly complained that they have reported the three incidents to the Kenya Wildlife Services by so far no compensation has been paid out.

In Kajiado district several Maasai morans were admitted at the various hospitals for treatment following a fight with KWS game rangers. The Maasais had mobilized armed themselves and went on hunting spree against wild animals following the death of one herds boy who was gored to death by a rogue bull of buffalo in Tsavo West National Game Park, not far away fro the Kenya-Tanzania borders. The Maasis avenged and killed several elephants which they speared to death before the combined reinforcement police and are rangers arrived.

Meanwhile a farmer in Kapsoo in Baringo County is counting loses after his highly prized dairy cows were struck dead by lightning following late afternoon downpour I the area.

According to a herds boy who witnessed the Monday evening incident, there was heavy rains accompanied by thunder and lightning.

“It occurred at around 6 pm local time and the cows were sheltering under trees. Lightning struck when I was just preparing to milk the cows,” said Peter Koech

Koech recounted that immediately after the incident, heavy smoke covered the scene. He rushed to inform the owner of the animals as neighbors thronged the scene. He said he was lucky to have survived the ordeal that occurred only a few meters fro where he was standing.

A family member said the incident was a major loss because the four cows were the only source of their livelihood. The cows were purchased with the money borrowed from a government financial agency which is funding farmers with loan money on easy repayment terms. The four dead cows were valued at Kshs 200,000 and those left are three orphanage valves.

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Kenya: One man is seriously hurt after the villagers engaged in fierce battles with the marauding lions

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ONE MAN IS GRAVELY ILL AFTER BEING MAULED BY THE LIONS – – WILDLIFE / HUMAN CONFLICT INTENSIFIES IN KEAYA’S JUNGLES REGIONS.

Writes Leo Odera Omolo

One man is gravely ill and is being hospitalized following an attack by a group of three lions which had strayed I the Maasai village, killed a cow and killed goats and sheep.

The incident took place on Wednesday night at Loitokitok near the Kenya-Tanzania border. The man from the nomas Maasai tribesmen fought the lions, but one of the as mauled seriously and has since been admitted to the nearby Rombo hospital which is locate in he sloes of Mt Kilimanaro with serious bodily harm.

The incident occured only a week after another incident which took place at Kitengea in the outskirt of the capital, Nairobi, in which he Maasai Morans armed themselves with spea4rs and other crude weapons killed six lions including two cubs. The animals had attacked the villages and killed 20 goats and sheep. The villagers said they had reported the incident to the Kenya Wildlife SERVICES {kws},but the Organisation’s armed ranger took along time before coming to he villagers rescue.

The following day another group lions invaded the same area and killed thee cows, a donkey and ten sheep and goats. Services

{KWS} is the body that is tasked by he government in regulating and policing he wild life sanctuaries and game arks.

N the North Rift parts of the expansive Kenya’s Rift Valley Province a combine force of members of the public and Kenya Wildlife Services rangers {KWS} armed themselves with spears, arrows and boys plus other crude weapons have bee regrouping I groups comprising f 5 men to hunt down a group of leopards but failed to ace the big cats that have killed close to 40 goats and 20 sheep within the last one week.

The swamps area is located in Sigot Location in lelmokwo areas where the cats are believed to have

The leopards suspected to be six ii numbers are believed to be hiding and living in the last ten years.The are suspected to have strayed from the nearby Kapkiptui Hills in Ndalat where they have been spotted dug er last ten years, last week attacked several homes where they killed sheep and goats.

For sometime these cats roamed about the villages an looked harmless, and we had no cause and reason to worry abut,” said one villager.

Further more the residents are cautious not to take unnecessary alarm that could result in killing them.They only attack as from midnight and before dawn they retreat to their hideouts.”

Hundred of residents including he location chief Mr Nicolas Kosgei are now living in fear since the cats could end up attacking them unless the KWS intervenes a d dives them out f the villages.

Leopard and can inflict injuries twenty or or thirty at ago.once provoked. But always shy when it encounters human being. The are extraordinarily clever and intelligent as well as good fighter. It fights it enemy using the knife like laws.

Relatively smaller in size in comparison to the African lion, gown up leopard are weighing between 90 kg and 120 kg depending on the location of its natural habitat.

Ends

Kenya: Herds of hippos have imposed dawn to dusk curfew on Kisumu villagers after destroying acres of crops

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

HERDS of about 13 full grown up hippo and their two calves have imposed dawn to dusk curfew on in the villages within the outskirt of Kisumu City forcing the residents to stay indoor for day and night.,

The hippos all female under the territorial command of one huge bull estimated to weigh more than five tons have raided a villages in Nyamasaria in Central Kolwa Location forcing the residents to spent most of their day time indoor not to dare outside on fear of possible attack by the huge animals after they killed one bull owned by a local farmer.

The animals have destroyed crops in an area of six miles radius and stay out of the water most of the time.

Kenya Wildlife Services {KWS} officials have said there was a mass movement of the animals from the lake due to floods.

The animals are said to have been wondering around the villages day and night in an area of covering a radius of eight kilometers from the lake after escaping the surging water level.

When this writer visited the area, residents were counting their losses with one farmer by the name Reuben Obunga claiming that the hippos have killed one of his bulls. “This is the bull which is providing my family with the livelihood and I am using the animal to plough my farmers and also for my neighbors on fees.”

Mzee Obunga aged about 54 threatened to mobilize the villagers to attack and kill some of the animals so tat he could sell the meat and replenish his losses unless the KWS drives them back to their designated natural habitat along the lake shore. The animals he added have destroyed his four acres of maize and food crops.

Women and children have now stopped from coming home late from the nearby market places as the animals comes out of the water as early as in the late afternoon around 4 P.M. and chases everyone on their sight.

There are no longer free movement of people in the villages neighboring the lake shores, This I was told have also been curtailed. And even the herdsmen are no longer grazing their animals close to the shore of the lake on ear of being attack by these huge animals.

Civic leader representing Kolwa Central Ward in the Kisumu Municipal Council has appealed to the KWS to come to the escue to the villagers who she said were living in fdear. Coiun.Agnes Nyagol said thee were so many hippos on the loose, and yet no action has been taken to contain them. The amphibian animals which are nocturnal normally coming out of the lake water only after darkness have changed their behaviors to the amazement of the residents,who fear for their lives

“We are prone to attacks because many animals are on the run. An urgent solution to this problem must be found or else next time your will hear of a human casualties,” said the Councilor.

Residents have urged members of parliament to enact the law that would ensu5re that those incurred losses were compensated.

An official from the Kisumu town base of the KWS who visited the area promised that they would try and capture h animals and relocate them somewhere else far from Nyamasaria due to big concentration of human population in the area. He said he roaming bulls probably were edged out of their habitat during battles over territorial turf.

There are usually forced out by the dominant bulls during the mating season and this a bit cumbersome to contain them. The cases are higher during flash floods,” explained Corporal Laban Kiptui of the KWS.

Why I Support Serengeti Highway Project Implementation

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From: Yona F Maro

We all know that there are so many economic benefits that accrue from a tarmac road, many to enumerate but will just mention a few here, all year round accessibility of the areas it passes through, establishment of new human settlement along the road to take advantage of the economic opportunities that present themselves on the highway, shorter travelling times, safety of the travelling public due to fewer accidents, cost of vehicles maintenance goes down considerably and many other economic multiplier effects. Such investments also reduce the cost of production and promote output and productivity growth, this road will also increase the Lake Victoria’s region industry’s ability to compete nationally. A deeper understanding of the importance of the road network to the economic viability of the Lakes Region is expected of the conservationists and other noise makers.

I personally believe that the road will not have disastrous effects on the entire ecosystem. It is true northern parts of the Serengeti and the neighbouring, Masai Mara in Kenya are critical for the wildebeest and zebra migration during the dry season, as it is the only permanent year-round water source for these herds. But environmental impact assessment report of the research carried out by government indicates that the impact will be minimum.

Campaigners against the project have only tried to dwell on the negative effects which are very minimal, as they always say there are two sides of the coin and therefore the benefits too have to be mentioned. The whole argument about Serengeti highway is shrouded in hypocrisy and the campaigners who are against the project are collecting signatures around the world to oppose the project but they hardly tell the whole story about the highway. Majority of the campaigners against Serengeti highway project have joined the band wagon without an iota of an Idea whether the project will have negative environmental impact on the Serengeti ecosystem or not. The opposition mainly comes from pressure groups and green activists who are concerned about the possible negative environmental impact that the road might cause, but the latest feasibility studies have taken into consideration such matters, even Tanzania National Parks authority that was initially opposed to the project have so far conceded, the impact will be minimal.

For those who are interested in knowing some facts about the road,it is only 40 kms that will pass through the park once the project is complete but currently vehicles going to/from the lake region are passing through Ngorongoro Conservation area and Serengeti National Park. This is a longer route inside conservation areas, at least 200 kms to be precise, so which one is more detrimental to the parks just the 40 kms or 200 kms ? On a positive note to those who are against the project, it means once the tarmac road is complete, large goods trucks and big passengers buses will no longer pass through the middle of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. An alternative route has been recommended, but alternative route is longer and the terrain not good for road construction which means it will be more expensive to implement the project using this route. With scarce resources, the government will be definitely be tempted to go with the less expensive option as anyone else would.

I would like to pose this question to the campaigners who are against this highway. Are they willing to entice the government of Tanzania to opt for the alternative route by contributing a percentage of funds required to construct the highway. If the answer to the above is No, then they should just SHUT UP and let the government take development to its people. To conserve our heritage for the benefit of future generations is our collective responsibility but not at the expense of communities living in far flung areas of the country, they too have a right to enjoy good infrastructure like the rest of the country. Let it be known that some of the opposing forces of this project have personal interests. We really appreciate the concern of the genuine wildlife conservationists and environmental activists but we expect them to be partners in planning; not some fanatical impediments to a balanced development of Tanzania infrastructure. Even with this road SERENGETI SHALL NEVER DIE !

Alpha Mantai is a travel writer and a leading tours & travel consultan based in Arusha.

—
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

Kenya government now suspends payments for compensation of people who suffered snake bite after losing millions in fake claims

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo

The government of Kenya has now made it clear that it has temporarily suspended the payment of all claims by people bitten by snakes.

It has ordered for the probe o claims that some people have been making falsified claims, and even other are reportedly inflicting injuries by cutting their legs with razor blades and thereafter conspire with medical personnel to register false and fake claims of snake bite.

A Senior Game Warden in Mwingi district, Eastern Province who is in-charge of the Kora National Game Park Wilson Njue made the announcement.

The announcement says some victims of snake attacks in the region may not be paid after the government suspended compensation following infiltration into the exercise by fraudsters.

The government has launched investigations into a scam in which it has paid out millions of shillings for fake and phony snake bite injuries and death claims.

About 100 people from Mwingi a semi arid area in the Eastern region of Kenya where cases of snake bites are so rampant who had been bitten by snakes were awaiting compensation. He said in the same district, the Kenya Wildlife Services {KWS} offices is said to be receiving almost 10 cases of snake bites are reported every month.

It was further established that suspension of compensation through a ministerial directive was brought about by revelations that fraudsters connived with crafty medics’ personnel and police officers to present false claims that passed and were paid.

“The government realized it was losing lots of money by paying fictitious claims and thus in February slammed a countrywide suspension on payment of claims related to snake bite injuries or deaths.

However, claims for attacks, death or injuries resulting from other wild animals are being honored.”

The Game Warden further disclosed that at the time of the suspension took effect in February his office had up to 100 snake bite claim forms awaiting for payments.

“The suspension was mean to facilitate investigations into the government rip off through falsified claims; residents who will attack by snakes should file reports with his office.”

“The suspension does not mean the claims will never be paid.””After investigations are concluded, a decision with be made and the genuine claims may be paid,” he said.

“Therefore those who are attacked should not be discouraged but should report to us as we wait for the conclusion of the probe.” The statement concluded,

Ends

natural calamities strikes many parts of Kenya following the arrival of the long rains

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

NATURAL calamities and disaster have hit Kenyans so hard in the past one week with reported death by a man trampled by elephant, while two people drown after their fishing boat was hit by a rogue hippo in Lake Victoria.

In the last two weeks, the lightning strikes left three Kenyans dead, and at the same time there were two incidents of big cats devouring domestic animals in Murang’a County and, and in Nyahururu.

The incident in which two fishermen drawn while on fishing expedition in Lake Victoria when heir boats was hit by a rogue hippo took place near Uhanya Beach in Usenge Division, Bondo district within Siaya County occurred on Monday.

Four fishermen had set on a fishing expedition in Lake Victoria when a five tone rogue bull of hippo attacked their boat and sunk it violently. Two of the fishermen managed to swam to safety, but two of their colleagues were unlucky. Up to the time of writing this report the bodies of Fred Ochieng 42 and Dancan Ochjonjo 20 were yet to be retrieved from the water.

The Assistant Chief of the area Manaseh Osur identified the survivors as Bill Omondi and Musa Okaka.

A 75 year old woman was strike dead by thunderbolt in Adanya village in Teso district within Busia County in Western Province.Rose Idanya 75 had gone out in the rain to pick up some of her utensils when the lightning struck.

The Area Assitant Chief Zachary Olekete has cautioned the residents against engaging in risky activities, especially during the down pour as the rainy season started. He further asked head teachers of all the primary schools in his area to ensure that they install lightning arrestors in all classrooms and important buildings within their schools compound.

His particular incident came only a week after two young men who had taken a shelter under a tree were struck dead by lightning near Mwakitau in Taita-Taveta district at the Coast Province.

Another incident in Keiyo district in the North Rift a woman and her daughter dead after lightning hit their home during the late afternoon heavy down pour.

In the same Taita-Taveta district a man was trampled to death by a rogue elephant. The incident took place last Sunday forcing the officials of the Kenya Wildlife Services {KWS} to mount the ground and air operation aimed at driving back to the close to 200 herds of elephants which had invaded the area and were causing havoc with human lives and food crops.. back to the nearby Tsavo West National Game Park where the jumbos are suspected to have come from before invading the villages causing havoc with human live and destroying a lot of food crops in the field.

The elephants had imposed dawn to dusk curfew forcing the children to abandon their studies In the nearby schools.

In Nyahururu a suspected ,female leopard which had strayed in the farming villages is blamed for having killed close to 35 goats and sheep. A farmer at Gichaka village in Olkalou constituency is now counting his loses after the beast had attacked her leopard her curbs attacked and killed her nine sheep on Tuesday morning.

Mrs Gechia Karichu the nine sheep were part of a flock of 23 she had taken to grazing shed near her house. But soon after returning to the house, three of the sheep came back bleating with one of them having been mauled in the leg. But when he went out to check what had happened to the sheep she found the carcasses of the nine sheep strewn allover.

The residents told the newsmen that the same leopard had killed many goats , sheep and dogs in the village in the last two weeks.

The area MP Erustus Mureithi who visited the scene appealed to the government to compensate the farmers who had lost their animals in such attacks by big cat.

The next incident involving the attack by a leopard was in Gikuyu Sub-Location in Murang’a district where a marauding male leopard killed seven sheep on Monday night. The big cat is reported to have strayed in the village from the nearby Mount Kenya Forest which was recently devastated by the wildfire.

The beast is also reported to have already devoured close to 5o goats and sheep during the last three weeks and it is so elusive that the villagers in collaboration with the armed game rangers have hunted it without success.

On Monday night at about 4.A.M a resident Mr Justus Mwan in bed woke up to a rude shock after he found the carcasses of seven sheep killed.

In unrelated story, an official of the KWS in Tsavo East National Game Park has made a startling revelation of people who have been faking snake bites so tat they could compensated. This discovery was made after it was detected that nearly all the companion forms were signed b only one doctor.

The Senior Kenya Wildlife Service Samuel Bukura said some people re known to have cut their legs using razor blades to fake snake bite or the purpose of getting compensated b the government.

The scam was discovered after many people had presented the forms bearing their claims for compensation after faking snake bite incidences.

“Most claims lodged in our offices, are bearing the signature o only one doctor paving he way for suspicion that the forms were fake. This , he aid is a clear indication that the compensation exercise is grossly being abused.

Bukura revealed that the government has set aside and released the colossal amount of Kshs 2.6 million which is to be paid out as compensation to the families of those people who were either killed and injured by wildlife in the coastal district of Taita-Taveta The issuing of payment of cheques and cash has been delayed because the people involved did not provide the officials with the correct information.

The payment has been categorized for those killed will be compensated with Khs 200,000 while those who sustained bodily injuries a result of attack by wildlife would be paid Kshs 50,000.mT in this category include the genuine cases of snake bites, and it is what has made so many people fake the injuries. Some have inflicted injuries n their bodies using razor blade top look like snake bites.

Ends

Human Security vs Scientific Freedom: How Bird Flu has Provoked an Overdue Debate

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From: Yona F Maro

Experiments conducted by two groups of scientists last year, one in
the US and the other in the Netherlands, have provoked a policy
imbroglio in most parts of the world that is destined to fester
through 2012. The experiments, funded by the National Institute of
Health in the United States, were aimed at determining how the bird
flu virus could be made transmissible between mammals. The result was
a deliberately created “bird flu” strain that may be capable of
passing from human to human.

Much coverage in the mainstream and scientific press in the developed
world has focused on the dispute over whether or not to publish the
studies as some fear they could provide recipes for criminals or
terrorists. However,  bigger issues are at stake such as questions
about how the international community should oversee particularly
risky types of infectious disease research? What, if any, research
should be impermissible? Who can make that call? And what should the
role of the World Health Organization (WHO) be in this tricky field
that mixes issues of public health and security? Despite the important
international implications of this debate, little attention has been
paid to it in Africa.

On one side are advocates of “scientific freedom” who offer no
apologies for the deliberate creation of these extremely dangerous
bugs. They say the experiments are important to prepare responses to a
future influenza pandemic. On the other side are a more heterogeneous
group of safety and security advocates who are dismayed at the lack of
oversight of the laboratories where such experiments occur. They argue
that the risks posed by such experiments outweigh the benefits and
that they should never have been performed. They argue that the
research contributes little to development of vaccines, and are
concerned about the potential for laboratory accidents that may have
far reaching negative health consequences.

Many critics of the research also want new procedures to review
security aspects of dangerous experiments before they happen. Some in
this group additionally want details of some experiments kept secret
from those considered America’s political enemies.

The US government, which both funded the experiments and is trying to
coordinate a response to the security concerns they have raised, has
ended up broadcasting mixed messages. The health ministry, which is
amenable to the interests of big science, tends toward the “scientific
freedom” position, while other officials are more likely to advocate
action to reign in risks. So the health ministry blandly promises new
biosecurity advice to laboratories, a project that has lingered undone
for nearly a decade. This guidance will likely be nonbinding and
unambitious, and have effect only in the US. Others meanwhile press
for mandatory measures that would create layers of local, national,
and international review for the small set of experiments deemed
highly risky.

Caught in this messy situation is the WHO, whose past successes have
often stemmed from its ability to bypass political rivalries – such as
its eradication of smallpox in the midst of the Cold War. If a new
international system to review especially risky infectious disease
research is to be developed, there is no question that WHO would need
to be, at some level, involved.

Yet such a system has the potential to be poisonous to the WHO and its
goals to promote public health interests over political rivalries.
What happens, for instance, if the US goes to the WHO to stop research
results from being provided to a rival such as Iran?

This is a less hypothetical problem than you may suspect. Some leading
US biological security voices appear to believe that WHO should be
bent to serve American security interests. They find it reasonable
that WHO would manage a two-tiered system of access to research
information, dividing nations between those deemed (by the US amongst
others) trustworthy and those that are not. Much as the Non-
Proliferation Treaty has divided the world into those who may, and
those who may not have nuclear weapons.

Compounding the difficulty for the WHO is that in May 2011 it adopted
a new international Framework agreement on sharing influenza viruses
and research data. This agreement is the culmination of a negotiation
that was largely divided along North-South lines.  Developing
countries, led by Indonesia, sought to reform WHO’s influenza
surveillance network, which plays a critical global role in influenza
diagnostics and vaccine selection.

Influenza vaccines are made from influenza viruses, and developing
countries rightly criticized the WHO for collecting viruses in the
name of public health and then gifting those viruses to the
pharmaceutical industry that used them to develop proprietary
commercial vaccines. Moreover, the industry is uninterested in
producing and selling influenza vaccines to developing countries, at
the prices that they could afford. At the centre of H5N1 outbreaks,
Indonesia found itself unable to buy vaccines made from the viruses
that it gave to the WHO, and which the WHO gave to industry.

The Framework promises to change this with a commitment from vaccine
makers to provide benefits to developing countries in return for
access to the viruses. These viruses include those that were used in
the experiments that kicked off the present controversy, which were
collected by the WHO system from Indonesia and Vietnam.

Ironically, in the negotiation of the Framework, the staunchest
advocate for the unrestricted sharing of influenza viruses between
nations was none other than the United States, which feared that
Indonesia or other countries would become so frustrated that they
would abandon the WHO system by making bilateral deals with vaccine
companies – cutting others out of the loop.

Now, however, the United States is making an abrupt change of course.
Concerned that the H5N1 experiments could offer its geopolitical
opponents a map to create a particularly nasty biological weapon, the
US doesn’t want these engineered viruses and key details of the
research freely shared.

Thus, having just fixed virus-sharing problems with the Framework, the
WHO now must deal with one of its weightier members wanting to revert
to a system that collects all the viruses but does not equitably share
the benefits. This time, the forces auguring for disparity are related
to security, rather than economic interests.

With advances in biotechnology enhancing the dangerous potential of
engineering viruses that transmit from human to human, it makes a
great deal of sense for specific types of research to be pre-screened
and more tightly overseen.  Some experiments, especially those
intended to increase the danger a disease poses, may be too risky to
allow at all. Also, because some such diseases can quickly spread
around the world, it stands to reason that an international review
should be required in cases where the most extreme danger is posed.

But this is no simple task. In fact, the potential political obstacles
to an international review system may be insurmountable – at least if
governments want to protect the independence of the international
public health agency. Governments that look to the WHO to implement
their national security policy would best look elsewhere. If a
depoliticised international research review system could be
established with countries on equal footing, however, it may help
ensure that we are less often confronted with dangerous surprises such
as the recent flu experiments. Given that any worldwide pandemic is
likely to hit the African continent harder than others, we should
prepare a response that upholds public health interests by ensuring
that influenza research goes forward that is well considered and
properly overseen, to improve public health outcomes.

Dr. Edward Hammond is Director of Prickly Research
(www.pricklyresearch.com) and an advisor to the Third World Network.
Dr. Chandre Gould is a senior researcher in the Crime and Justice
Programme of the ISS

—
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

KENYA: THE COUNTY OF HOMA-BAY HAS MANY TOURIST DESTINATIONS AND ATTRACTIVE SCENERY WHICH COULD TURN THE REGION INTO THE RICHEST WHEN FULLY DEVELOPED

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A Special Feature By Leo Odera Omolo In Homa-Bay Town
.
HOME-BAY County one of the newly created 47 counties under the new constitutional dispensation is promising to offer a lot for the future of the residents along the eastern shoreline of Lake Victoria
.
The County’s shoreline in Lake Victoria is covering close to a distant of approximately 28o kilometers. It starts at Nyakwera on the Nyakach-North Rachuonyo districts borders and winds up at Lakinyiero in the Southwestern border of Suba South district with Nyatike district in Migori County.

There close to twenty small fishing islands on the Kenyan side of the lake and some of them are potential as tourist’s destinations.

The County is also full of pre-historic sites which could be developed as potential tourist attractions if the next county governance could do its home work and if possible succeed in luring both foreign and local investors to come and developed tourist class hotels, lodges and beach resort facilities.

The region is also potential destination for bird watchers, but above, the Suba region could provide close to 60 per cent of the County annual income accrued from fish, and fish trade, tourism, hotels, lodges and beach resorts, though these could be achieved on self-help development schemes, but it would also require a lot of input from possible foreign sources and massive investments.

Already local inputs are evidence in places like Mbita Town, where several beach resorts of the tourist class have sprung up in the recent past, more efforts is still required to crown it all. The proprietors of the beach resorts also need more capitals to invest in extra curriculum activates such as boat racing, skiing ensure that their facilities are well equipped with speed boats to ferry the tourists around the lake on von voyage trips to the nearby pre-historic sites and birds watching trips.

A local resident who is a candidate vying for the lucrative and powerful position of the county governor Dr. Mark Matunga recently made a moderate estimation that Suba region alone could rake in close to 70 per cent of the County annual revenue.

Dr Matunga cited the recent restocking of the Ruma National Game Park in Lambwe Valley with new species of wild animals such as zebras black and white rhinos, giraffe, improved fishing facilities and fish trades and other facilities.

In the recent past, Homa-Bay County has witnessed the construction of new tarmac roads like the Kendu-Bay-Homa-Bay and Homa-Bay Mbita roads as some of the component of e important development of the infrastructure taking place.

The region, especially the Suba region is well served with the Ndori –Luanda Kotieno ro which winds u at the Mbita Ferries, which is plying the narrow Nyanza Gulf between Luanda Kotieno on the Rarieda side of the lake to Mbita Town.

The private firm that owns and manages the Mbita Ferries has recently introduced new and the largest ferries that can carry up to 30 motor vehicles plus close to 200 passengers at a go in one trip. This is a tremendous improvement and would provide the travelling passengers with quick accesses in crossing the narrow channel. The ferry service is expected to improve economic activities in the Suba region as it will facilitate quick travelling to businessmen and traders visiting major wholesale and distribution shops in Kisumu City.

The private firm that runs and manages he Mbita Ferries is reported to have already initiated a tentative plans it envisaged to launch a new ferry service between Mbita and Mfangano Island in the near future, It will also be ferrying both passengers and vehicles aboard that could be used by visitors on while touring around the important sites and scenarios on Mfangano Island where all weather roads have already been constructed.

The construction of roads on Mfangano Island came about as a personal initiative of Dr.Matunga, who is a native of the Island who also single handed initiated the massive electrification. He single-handed secure a powerful diesel fired engine ,which has now brought the hitherto sleeping and backward Island into limelight of brightest lights through the power supplies to schools and other important institutions as well a to the individuals homes.

There are close to twenty small fishing islands on the Kenyan side of the lake, some which could be developed as the tourist destination, and could make the country compete with other tourist destination regions like Seychelles Islands, Mauritius and even South Africa. Notable islands which are suitable for the establishment of beach resorts and lodges include Takawiri, Ngodhe, Kiwa, Remba,Ringiti.

Another potential Island is the famous “Soklo Kipenji or Soklo Kibanga” which is close to a number of important fish landing beaches around Usawo on the mainland. Next to “Soklo Kipenji” is the Sukri, which is much close to Homa-Bay town on the mainland. Sukri ha fertile an which is arable and has so many inhabitants living on it, though most of the spent their day time doing or tending to their businesses in Homa-Bay Town and only retires to the island at the fall of the night using motor boats and home made canoes.

“Soklo Kipenji” is full of myths in folklore tales of the past. For many years, the locals held firm believes that it was a place where there is a hidden powerful and invisible devilish being from other planet. Fishermen dared not land their fishing boats on “Soklo Kipenji” and travelers plying the nearby lake waters on their r way to Mbita Point from Homa-Bay pier were always forewarned not to ask any question.

It has never been inhabited nor frequented by the locals, and it was said that even the fish eagles never landed their catches on its rocks, and that ever crocodiles, lizards and monitors stayed away fro the tiny island. Unconfirmed reports says that two White European explores who defiantly ignored the advice of the locals not to visit the Island in 1922, shortly immediately after the end of the first World War, and attempted to land – – their boat mysteriously disappeared never to be traced to date. And that is how this Island earned its name.

However, following human settlement pressure in the nearby Lambwe Valley forest, Baboon, Monkeys and even hyena have of late took refuge on this island. It has been deprived of its natural trees by charcoal burners and women in search of fire wood, leaving only sky pointing sharp rocks with no vegetation to protect its soil.

Ake Simbi Nyaima, the volcanic lake, which is situated in Central Karachuoyo Location in Rachuonyo North district as well as birds sanctuary near Oyugis, are some of the potential areas worth development, if at the Central Government is keen in resuscitating its forty five year old Western Kenya Tourist circuit, which has remained in the drawing board ever since it was initiated and launched by the then Minister for Tourism and Wildlife S.O. Ayodo in 1967.

Homa-Bay County is also rich in minerals, especially gold, which are said to be in abundance around Wire Hill near Oyugis, and at the old Awuoro mine about six kilometers south east of Oyugis Town and near Mithui Secondary school Kokal area.

The now closed down gold mine which is only a few meters away from Ruga Market on he right side of the Oyugis-Kisii road thrived in the 1930s and early 1940s, but he foreign investors, mainly South Africa Bower and Australian miners close them own following pressure mounted by the black nationalist during the struggle for political independence. The gold deposits were never exhausted.

Red ochre could also be mined on the slope of the Hill facing Mithui ,which are so good for home floor colors, and next to the scene on the Oyugis Gamba Market {Rioma road] one come direct to the old caves where people used to take cover from their invading enemies during the old days.The caves are now being used as pilgrimage site by religious people.

The crocodile shaped rock on to of a hill in Kauma Kwadhigone area of Karachuonyo could be another potential center of tourist attractions of attraction, especially to those visitors wished to see the wonders of the world.

A tourist class hotel is already in place put up by he Germans near Kowu9or Pier,{formerly Homa-Lime area} which adequate facilities for any class of visitors, VIP included. Another decent hotel facility is the tausi hotel, located within Rodi Kopany Market, which serves as the junction of Homa-Bay Rongo and Ndhiwa Rangwe roads. And a few kilometers way is the latest Ndhiwa Resort, which is established in Ndhiwa Town and the brain child of the area MP Joshua Orwa Ojode. The road from Rodi Kopany to Ndhiwa has been modernized and the work is progressing well via Aora Chuodho, where the Massoulin of the world record breaker polygamist of all time the late Ansentus Akuku Ogwela, commonly known as Akuku Denja is buried. In his life the danger man is believed to have married more than 100 wives, though at his death there were only 39 of them were still living in his three homesteads which are well spread from Central Kanyamwa, Kwabwayi and Karungu Locations. He had more than 209 children.

Branchi off at Mirogi Trading Center, the visitor has only eleven kilometer
drive into the main gate of the Ruma National Game Park in Lambwe Valley. Next to the park is he pre-historic” Kor Lang’o”, the now defunct main road believed to have been used by the Massais people while taking their herds of cattle for water I Lake Victoria centuries ago.

the KWS headquarters for Ruma National Game Reserves one can drive via Kanyamwa escarpment and link up with the main Homa-Bay –Mbita road at Ogongo or drive to Homa-Bay town only 23 kilometers away from the Forest main gate. Inside the Game Park there is a lodge with all facilities which offer social amenities to the visitors wishing to stay overnight.

Branching off at Mirogi Trading Centre is only eleven kilometers drive to the Lambwe Valley is being maintained by the KWS. Homa-Bay Tourist Hotel could be the next destination for the visitors while other could pt up at the Hippo Garden Hotel also located in Homa-Bay town. There are small and medium class hotels offering accommodation in town. But now that Homa-Bay Town has been chosen as the regional administrative headquarters for the
Homa-Bay County more enterprising hotels are expected to sprung up.

The lakeside town which hitherto was a sleeping town is expected to be the hub of business activities in the region due to its proximity to land and water transport system to other destinations in the region. Both foreign and local entrepreneur are welcome to invest in a five star or lesser graded hotels in order to tap the revenue expected to flow in from the tourist and other visitors to the region.

The resuscitation o Homa-Bay town will, however, depends on the good governance and proper planning by the County governance. But given the fact that all major roads leading to the ton have been constructed and the other on modernized.

A large deposits of lime and cement tones were recently discovered around Ruri Hills and the new Homa-Bay County will have to go out flat looking for the potential investors into the a Cement factory.
The town is now looking rejuvenated and no longer the dusty place of the past .This has been done head of the inauguration of the new County Offices, which will be immediately soon after the next general election, perhaps next year.

Moving further west, visitors will be able to see the famous pre-historic site of the famous Nyamgondho Wuod Ombare shrine at the shore of Lake Victoria not far away from Nyandiwa Beach Trading Center.

The government has already signed a new contract with the Chinese road construction firm to have the Mbita-Sindo-Magunga road, which is expected to link up with another highway from Ndhiwa ro Sori .Town in Nyatike district. This give unlimited access to tourists and visitors an easy driver along the lake with the possible branching off to areas like Kisegi and Nyandiwa chi is a fast growing beach town.

Former Gwassi MP Zadock Syong’o whose birthplace is at Kisegi had secured the power supplies to most schools and market places in Gwassi. Next to Nyandwa is the beautiful Kiwa Island which has a population estimated to be slightly over 500 people complete with their domesticated animals. The new road will traverse via Sindo,Nyabera, and pass through the Ruma National game Park to Magunga, pss through the junction of Tonga Secondary School via God Bura to Kokomo and Kiabuya junction and then to Laknyiero from where it will link up with Sori Town.

Plans has already been envisaged to have this road constructed via the vast Kadem up to Muhuru-Bay near the Kenya Tanzania border. This plan was recently disclosed by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga when he addressed a mammoth crowd at Kaswanga in Rusinga West Location, Rusinga Island during the burial of the former Kenya’s Permanent representative to the UN the late Michael Okeyo.

Mfangano Island is another place which is full of pre-historic sites, and yawning or the development of more tourist class hotels. On top of Soklo plateau, there are several sources of mineral waters, which could be bottled

The same could be said of the twin island of Rusinga. Here a few hundred meter of Wanyama fish landing beach there laying deep in the water two oxen looking like stones. The stones according to the local folklore were the remnants of two full grown up bulls which belonged to two cousins called Mnyama and Ware. The stones are called Nyama gi Ware signifying to the two sub-clansof Wanyama and Waware, and the saying goes that the two bull had fought the fiercest battle until they landed in the water where they turned into permanent stones. These are just mythology tales. However, the area is potential for the development of good beach resort hotel of tourist class.

A;ready there in place a tourist lass hotel at Kamasengre next to the airstrip and not far away from the buralk place of one of the uncompromising champion of freedom fighter/architect of Kenya’ independence and charismatic politician the late Tom Mboya, the former Minter for Economic Planning and Development in the post-independence cabinet who was assassinated in a Nairobi street in 1969.

Some, medium class hotels are already in place in Mbita Town, which included Mbita Beach Resort, ICIPE Guest House, Rusinga Holiday Inn, and others currently catering for visitors, but more facilities including speed boats for sporting are still required for the region to be able to reap the fruit of the expected influx of tourists into the region in the near future.

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KENYA: SO THEY CAME FROM ALL DIRECTIONS WITH SHARPENED KNIVES AND MACHETES READY FOR THE SCRAMBLE OR THE FIVE TONES HIPPO’S MEAT THAT WAS NEVER THERE.

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo.

They came from all directions. Men and omen with sharpened knives, machetes and other sharp instrument ready to scramble for the five tons meat of a dead Hippo in Kisumu Town.

The dram took pace at Dunga Beach within Kisumu Municipality. A huge dead bull of Hippo weighing close to five tons was washed ashore. The animal died apparently in fight with the other bull over the territorial control.

Women rushed with baskets while bear chest muscle men were readying themselves for the job of cutting the meat. But before the scramble could begin, the officials of the Kenya Wildlife Service {KWS} got the wind and moved in ready with their guns readily cocked.

Others brought with them axes ready to share the meat of a dead hippopotamus and were at the point of getting ready for the battle of the fittest for at least a kilogram of free meat. But the he crowd was mesmerized and puzzled when the KWS official appeared from nowhere and stopped them from touching the animal.

According to the local fishermen, there was a big fight between the two bulls of hippo the previous night along the eastern shoreline of Lake Victoria. Those versed with the character of the huge animals says, the fight could have been caused by another bull trespassing in the territory of a much stronger bull.

It was a combined team of members of the Dunga Beach Management Unit and the KWS. They pulled the carcass using a motor boat to the nearby Impala Park, despite of loud protest fro the crowd, which at one point threatened to cause chaos.

Members of the fishing community around Dunga fish landing beach complained that when they discovered the dead animal nobody went fishing as they knew that there will be enough meat for every family. The meat of the dead hippo, they said would have compensated nearly every fisherman around.

However, the KWS official clarified that the dead hippo might have been infected with a disease and thus unfit for human consumption. The KWS later buried the dead animal in according to KWS policies.

It could not be confirmed whether the animal was killed by its rival or had suffered some mysterious animal diseases such as the deadly anthrax, though some of the fishermen claimed to have heard a big commotion around the lake shore the previous two nights and assumed that the two bulls of hippos were fighting, but the KWS could not take a chance and high risk by allowing the local to consume its meat in the absent of the scientifically established cause of its death.

Ends