URIRI VILLAGERS CONCERNED WITH DANGEROUS ANIMALS

WRITES JAKOTAE OMORY FROM URIRI DISTRICT

The enraged residents of Ongito Village in North Kanyamkago Location, Uriri District have appealed to the game wardens of Ruma National Park to come to their immediate rescue, following the presence of crocodiles and hippopotamus wreaking havoc on the bank of River Kuja in the area.

The animals are said to have killed several animals in a short span. They have been sighted strolling around River Kuja in Ongito village, North Kanyamkago Location, damaging maize and millet farms bordering the river.

According to the local residents, the crocodiles are known to be killing the sheep and goats majorly, as compared to any other animals in the area. The angry villagers told this writer, who visited the area, that due to the presence of these dangerous animals in the area, most pupils have ceased going to schoo,l fearing the possibility of meeting these dangerous animals on the way.

They proceeded to confirm that, the hippos have spoiled several farms adjacent to River Kuja, while the animals of the lizard family have killed several sheep and goats. They have also occasionally killed human beings, creating a notion among the local residents that there is a magic linkage between the crocodile’s killings and senior magician in the area (name withheld).

Tension has engulfed this agriculturally rich part of the district, forcing women to go and pick the vegetables at the river bank earlier than usual, for fear of the possibility of meeting these dangerous animals which generally stroll in the evening hours.

Now that the activity taking one to the river bank of Kuja in Ongito village has become a life and death exercise, and there is no immediate response from the game wardens of Ruma National Park to the request of these embattled villagers, some of them were of the opinion that they should be given an okay by the government to deal with these animals using their own ways.

Even the former Uriri M.P, Herman Odhiambo Omamba, tabled this during parliamentary debate in the ninth parliament, that the government should take urgent measures to rescue his cornered constituents staying around the bank of River Kuja, and no action has been taken to date, suggesting that the humble request fell on a deaf ear.

Whatever the case is, the concerned bodies should take immediate action to rescue these endangered villagers from these dangerous animals before it is too late.

To the elected leaders, remember Edwin Friedman once said that “Leadership is the capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future”, and we can’t expand a vision of future without agriculture, which is the mainstay of the economy of these river –bank dwellers.

ENDS

boazomory@yahoo.com