Residents Bear The Brunt Of A Meat Syndicate As Six Donkeys Are Illegally Slaughtered In A Fortnight.

Christopher Karangi (in yellow) narrates how he lost his donkey to the cartel that is slaughtering people's donkeys for meat.

Fear has reigned Kenyatta Road Area of Juja Constituency and neighbouring areas of Ruiru, Juja, Gatundu and Thika towns with residents suspecting that they could have been consuming donkey meat all along after a spate of donkey theft and slaughtering in the area for the last few weeks.

Since the advent of the 2016 Christmas holiday season, the area has become synonymous with the loss of donkeys with the latest being the discovery of two carcasses of donkeys that were slaughtered on Wednesday night. Resident admit that there has been an increase in the theft of donkeys from homes after which these beasts of burden are herded to the bushes where they are slaughtered.

“This is not the first time for such an incident to occur. In a span of two weeks, we have lost six donkeys in a similar manner. The fact that these donkeys had been slaughtered means there is a ready market for the same. This meat is being served in these roadside butcheries and cheap food joints along Kenyatta Rd. and neighbouring towns,” Christopher Karangi, one of the victims who lost a donkey on Wednesday.

The donkeys are plenty in the area as the serve as a great means of transportation of goods, considering the fact that the area is steadily developing in the real estate sector. He reckons that the ass was his key source of livelihood and fetched him good money to fend his young family.

“We use these animals to transport so many things such as building materials, hay for livestock as well as water. On a good day I can earn between sh. 1,000 and 2,000. It is a big loss for me and my colleagues who have lost their donkeys too,” Karangi noted.

Karangi, who is a father of two, added that there were a group of unknown people who stole the animals at night, transport them under cover of darkness, brutally kill, skin and remove steak of the meat ready for sale. He said that they were unlucky never to have nabbed any of the criminals and appealed to the authorities to be more vigilant.

Gideon Kakuli was at pains to explain the loss incurred. He said that he had bought the donkey from Kajiado County for sh. 15,000, an amount he had laboured for months to raise. He was also bitter that it had to die a very painful death.

“If you look at this area, you can see the struggle that the donkey underwent before it died. They brutally hacked it and maimed it by cutting its limbs. These are very inhuman people,” said Gideon.

The residents called on the County Government of Kiambu to crack down on all informal butcheries, food joints and people hawking meat products as they were the key suspects in this rackets.

“This meat is obviously sold as samosas, mituras and meat being hawked along the roadside. The county government should raid these places to establish the sources of the meat they were selling,” said one resident who did not want to be identified.

Although donkey meat is not illegal in Kenya, many abhor the meat and will never be found eating it. Selling unsuspected meat in Kenya is also a crime.

The government has allowed for the opening of a donkey abattoir in Nakuru County.