Licensing donkey slaughterhouses could be the ruin of rural Kenya

Donkeys. We need to spare the beast of burden the indignities of the chopping board. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • It has the stamina to carry cargo for domestic use or during migration.
  • Man and beast’s lives are intricately entangled.
  • The wisdom could be that donkeys are enmeshed in a people’s lifestyles so much that their removal will definitely lead to a catastrophe.

I spent most of my past week traversing the rugged but picturesque Kitui, Baringo and Narok counties. Though worlds apart, a common strand links them — the donkey. It is the emblematic machine that literally hauls lives forward.

Yet, it is the concern of Ms Kambua, a young mother of three, that sent my head spinning.

I caught up with her at a place called Miambani — a district in Kitui. She was driving her beasts uphill, on their backs were water jerrycans and firewood.

To Ms Kambua, life would be impossible without the faithful servants.

DONKEY ABATTOIR

But she is horrified with the news of a donkey abattoir opening in her backyard at a place called Kithioko on the border with Machakos County.

Though she swore never to sell her animals, Ms Kambua is afraid donkey theft will escalate. But even more disturbing is that the trade will deplete donkeys from her community.

“It is women who will be turned into donkeys,” she said desperately.

In most of these places, the donkey is the only "machine" that can handle the treacherous terrain and the long distances. The donkey is the offroader.

STAMINA

It has the stamina to carry cargo for domestic use or during migration. Man and beast’s lives are intricately entangled.

That is why Ms Kambua’s apprehension is valid. The Chinese have landed in Kenya and the continent with knives.

Their abattoirs in Naivasha and Baringo slaughter about 300 donkeys daily, in an effort to meet the insatiable appetite for meat, skin and traditional medicine back home.

The slaughter of donkeys elicited mixed reactions when the idea was mooted. To some, it was an opportunity for cashing in on an animal that does not appeal to the culinary designs of Kenyans.

THREAT

To others, it was an abomination, and the fear was that donkey meat would infiltrate butcheries. To Ms Kambua and her kind, it is something deeper, an existential threat. Her life and that of thousands others would go down the drain.

Indeed, a nuanced appreciation of lifestyles in these regions would occasion a suspension of donkey meat business until a robust sustainable commercialisation framework is adopted.

Importantly, more research on breeding donkeys at an industrial scale should be encouraged.

Stringent policies on standards like the ratio of donkeys a family can dispose of, the age and size of the animal to be sold and the necessary permits from key government actors would help preserve the African donkey and people’s lives.

Otherwise, it appears the rate of depletion far outweighs regeneration. With a gestation period of 14 months, it may be difficult to replenish the donkey.

It is also worth noting that the local donkey population is not impressive – about 1.8 million.

If the beast of the burden vanishes, that will change the socio-economic and cultural dynamics of most of these societies.

Life will be unbearable and poverty could sky-rocket. This could trigger more conflicts, health complications and mass migrations.

I recall a man called Tilahun whom I met in Debre Berhan in rural Ethiopia last October. When the Chinese began eyeing their donkeys, residents protested.

CARRIED JESUS

To them, the donkey should not be slaughtered because it carried Jesus Christ. That is how the animal was saved - at least for the time being.

But something has to be done for Ms Kambua and many other women across Kenya. Commerce should not be the only driving force in the debate about don-keys.

Cash is useless when it produces a creaking and dysfunctional society.

If the state insists on licensing more abattoirs, it should also be committed to building roads and supply Kenyans with water and affordable gas.

If not, such licences are just but weapons of mass destruction. It is immoral and reckless.

It explains why, perhaps, countries like Botswana, Uganda, Senegal, Niger, Tanzania, Mali and Burkina Faso have banned donkey meat export to China.

The wisdom could be that donkeys are enmeshed in a people’s lifestyles so much that their removal will definitely lead to a catastrophe.

We need to spare the beast of burden the indignities of the chopping board. This way, we shall be guaranteeing a fairly predictable future for country folks like Ms Kambua.

Mr Wamanji is a Public Relations and Communication adviser [email protected] @manjis