Residents of Mwea constituency in Kirinyaga County have raised concerns over the rise of donkey theft in the region.
According to the chairperson of the donkey owners in Kirinyaga, Mary Wambui, over 30 donkeys were stolen and slaughtered by unknown people last week.
On Friday last week, residents of Rurii village in Wamumu location were shocked to find eight donkeys that were stolen from one of the villagers slaughtered at the new Rurii apostolic church compound.
According to the donkeys’ owner Miriam Njagi, they were stolen by unknown people during the early morning hours.
“The man we have employed here was able to wake at around 3am and told us dogs are barking, but after he went to sleep, we all woke up at around 8 am only to find all eight donkeys stolen. we wonder whether they drugged us,” Miriam said.
Njagi added that they are counting a loss of Ksh.136,000.
“This is the third time thieves have struck my homestead. The other day they stole my 15 donkeys. They have left me and my husband jobless as we depend on donkeys to transport rice,” Miriam said
Mary Wambui condemned the incident, calling for intervention from relevant authorities “because we might even be eating donkey meat in our butcheries without our knowledge”.
Wamumu location chief Godfrey Mithamo has said that one suspect was arrested and is being held at Kiandegwa police post.
He further urged villagers to work with the authorities to see that donkey thieves are arrested.
