Victims of human-wildlife conflict bear brunt of costly compensation

Tears flowed down her cheeks. She was too sad to wail, she just sat still holding her young baby as her co-wife held a framed portrait of their late husband.

Their gloomy faces depicted what many victims of human-wildlife conflict along Lake Victoria experience.

Mary Tatu, 25 had lost her husband, Godfrey Oduor in January 2017 after a hippo attack at Busembe beach in Samia, Busia County.

Her co-wife Violet Mgeni sat by her side at Bumbe beach holding a framed portrait of their late husband.

“My husband had set out for a fishing expedition when the hippo struck their boat killing him on the spot. To date, our family is yet to be paid even filling the compensation forms,” she narrated.

She said that, without a husband, she was struggling to raise four children. Her co-wife Ms Tatu also has four children and both are unemployed.

HIPPO ATTACK

For Elizabeth Oyiengo, 46, the death of her husband Dismas Oyiengo after a hippo attack at Bugoto beach in 2015 left her with no breadwinner to provide for her three children.

“My husband was attacked by a hippo and died in 2015. Currently, I just do menial jobs to be able to provide for my children. We haven’t received a cent from the government,” she said.

Mr Chris Masiga, 48, lost his wife Pamela Agallo after she was bitten by a snake at Budubusi village in Bunyala in 2013.

He said she had been contracted by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) for tree-planting project along Lake Victoria at the time of the attack.

“We rushed her to Port Victoria hospital, Nangina and Tanaka hospitals before she succumbed. Most facilities lacked the antivenin and probably that was the cause of my wife’s death,” says Mr Masiga, a businessman in Busia County.

FATE SEALED

For Ramadhan Omari, 29, his fate seemed to have been sealed that he would die such a cruel death. Mr Omari, a fisherman at Usoma beach, had survived a crocodile attack two year’s ago before he was finally killed by a hippo in August.

The beast is said to have overturned their boat while on a fishing expedition in Lake Victoria.

Usoma village elder Michael Maunga said Mr Omar was in the company of other fishermen and was the coxswain.

“It is quite absurd that just two year’s ago he survived a crocodile attack and took more than six months in hospital only to die a year later following a hippo attack,” Mr Maunga said.

Andrew Oduor, Mr Omar colleague, narrated the events on that fateful day.

“Omar, whose nickname was Apache, was the coxswain. Suddenly, we realised a hippo was trailing our vessel and before we could turn, it tried to overturn our boat and Apache fell into the water where he was attacked,” Mr Oduor said.

FETCH WATER

Mr Evans Odhiambo’s eyes shifted to the side and became glazed with a glassy layer of tears.

As he blinked, they dripped from his eyelids and slid down his cheeks as the remains of the body parts of his wife Regina Atieno were retrieved from the lake shore at Dunga beach in Kisumu. Ms Atieno's head and internal organs were recovered separately along Dunga beach by locals and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) officers. She had been missing since August.

The mother of five had gone to fetch water from the lake at around 8pm when the reptile dragged her into the water in front of her 16-year-old daughter who had accompanied her. The family lived near the lake.

“My daughter told us something dragged her into the water. She screamed but the reptile had gone with her by the time we arrived,” said a distraught Mr Odhiambo. The family is now demanding compensation.

KWS senior warder in Central Nyanza, Mrs Christine Boit, blames overfishing in Lake Victoria for the rise in crocodile attacks.

WATER HYACINTH

“The lake no longer harbours a lot of fish as it used to. Crocodiles often move to the shores to search for fish. That is the time they are likely to strike humans,” Mrs Boit narrates.

She says that the water hyacinth that has covered a larger part of the Lake could also be a contributor to the attacks as fish stocks pile at the shores and as the beast comes to feed on them, they encounter humans whom they attack.

For hippos, she says that most victims either encountered them on their farms or at the lake shores.

“Hippos are herbivorous and do not attack humans for food as crocodiles. They only attack when they feel threatened. Sometimes when fishermen set out to fish, their boats are attacked as the beast at times feels it is in danger,” Mrs Boit says.

She advises fishermen to be vigilant while in the lake to avoid hippo attacks.

“People should stop settling on riparian lands and the county government needs to establish water points away from the lake to help reduce risk of attacks while fetching water or taking baths,” adds Mrs Boit.

Mr Daniel Sungu, 33 says he spent more than six months at Tanaka hospital in Busia after a hippo attack at Bugoto beach in 2009 and was yet to be compensated to date.

PERMANENT INJURY

“It left me with a permanent injury on my left leg. I have five children and fending for them has now become a huge challenge,” he says.

Other victims of the attacks in Busia County include James Lumala (28), Kenndy Juma (25), Monicah Akinyi (42), Nellyvine Anyango (33), Abednego Mayamba (19) and Collins Ojiambo.

Others affected are Gilbert Mukudi whose cow was killed, Stephen Wanyama (snake bite) and Roseline Madara who was bitten by a snake at Kabar in Muhoroni, Kisumu County.

KWS senior warder in Western Mr Ojwang’ Nyibule said they already facilitated the verification process of the victims and forwarded them to the ministry for compensation.

Most of the victims were attacked by hippos and crocodiles.

Mr Nyibule says the high number of victims and inadequate funds could have delayed the compensation process.

“Initially, the law pegged compensation for deceased victims at Sh30,000 before it was later amended to Sh200,000 and the Sh5 million payout that currently stands. This high amount seems to be the reason for the delays,” says Mr Nyibule.

Mrs Boit agrees that the fact that the Wildlife, Conservation and Management Act 2013 pegged the compensation fee for deceased persons at Sh5 million might have led to delays.