Bondo protest over reopening of donkey abattoirs

Bondo, Thursday, June 22, 2023

KNA by Brian Ondeng 

Donkey owners in Bondo held a demonstration protesting over government plans to reopen donkey abattoirs in the country.

Donkey Owners Association of Kenya (DOAK) Siaya branch asked the government to disregard the request by Mogotio MP Reuben Kiborek to reopen donkey slaughterhouses in the country.

The DOAK members who held peaceful demonstrations along Migwena-Gombe road in South Sakwa ward Bondo Sub County claimed that the reopening of the abattoirs would wipe out the 1.2 million donkeys in the country within a few years.

Last week, during in Baringo, the Mogotio MP made a request to CS Mithika Linturi to reopen the slaughters houses in Mogotio, Naivasha, Turkana and Nakuru to create employment for the youth, a request the CS Linturi said the government would put into consideration.                   

Led by their chairperson John Ogutu Mito, the donkey owners said the Agriculture CS should not lift the ban which was imposed by his predecessor Mwangi Kiunjuri in 2020. 

Ogutu said that the number of people that would benefit from employment in the donkey slaughter houses were insignificant compared to those benefiting from the services provided by beast of burden in the country. 

“So far, we know that the four facilities can only employ about six hundred people but on the other hand, donkeys are helping thousands of households to earn a living," Ogutu remarked.

Another member, Richard Ogutu Olango, said the benefits of having a donkey far outweighed slaughtering of the animals which also provide security in their homes.

He asked the government not to entertain individuals pushing for the reopening of donkey slaughter houses.

“We know that the donkeys were being slaughtered for the exportation of their meat and hide. The previous government placed a ban to stop the slaughter of the animals so why should the current government reopen the slaughter houses?" he posed. 

Benta Chiambe and Pauline Onyango who are also members of the association expressed fear that the reopening of the abattoirs would lead to rise in cases of donkey theft in the region. 

Chiambe said that with the rising cost of fuel, donkey provide alternative mode of transportation of their farm produce and water to many families in the rural set up and slaughtering them would increase levels of poverty. 

On her part, Onyango revealed that there were about six hundred donkeys in Siaya and the numbers would sharply reduce if the abattoirs are opened because of their low breeding. 

"A donkey breeds once in three years and if we have to sell our six hundred animals in Siaya to be slaughtered, we will lose all the animals before they can be replaced,” she warned.

Courtesy ; K. N. A