Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba now says there is more than meets the eye in the recent spate of hyena attacks in Kiambu County which has left families devastated.
In a statement on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, Wamuchomba said she suspected that some government officials were engaged in sinister dealings which involved letting the carnivores on the loose.
“It’s now clear, there is a sinister motive behind the preditor hyenas of Juja. My visit to Flati village in Nyacaba yesterday accompanied by the area MP confirmed my fears that the hyenas are a project to cover up some dealings; no wonder the government is reluctant to eradicate them,” she stated.
“Some wildlife officials advised locals not to kill them since they must be rabid. So what do you do with rabid wild hyenas.”
Wamuchomba promises pay
This comes just days after Wamuchomba and Juja MP George Koimburi promised the residents a pay of Ksh20,000 for every hyena they killed.
During the funeral service of a five-year-old killed by a marauding hyena, Wamuchomba said that the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) had failed to protect the locals from the beasts.
“We will start eliminating the hyenas and after that present their dead bodies to the relevant ministries. The youth will be given money to kill the hyenas. Every hyena killed will earn the person Ksh20,000,” Wamuchomba stated.
This is despite calls by the KWS to preserve the lives of the hyenas and instead inform relevant authorities of their presence.
The hyenas, locals said, had left at least six dead in the last 10 months alone, with several other survivors nursing serious wounds.
CS promises action
Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano last week said that the hyena menace had reached unacceptable levels in Juja, calling for the KWS officials to contain the beasts.
“The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) personnel are on the ground to ensure no more lives are lost to wild animals. I have directed KWS to mop up all hyenas from the Juja area as fast as humanly possible and demonstrate to the residents of the area affected that this will be a thing of the past after September 2024,” Miano said.
However, Witeithie MP Ngugi Mwibiri insists the locals must take action on the marauding hyenas.
“A time has come for us to take the law into our own hands. However much we build schools and hospitals here in Witeithie, unless we deal with the hyena menace, then we will be doing nothing,” Mwibiri said.