Residents of Gatanga Lowe Murang’a are up in arms over massive destruction of their crops by monkeys which has seen them incur huge losses.
The residents claim for the last five years, they have not been getting any harvest from their farms and they are forced to dig deeper into their pockets to buy food.
As if that is not enough, the monkeys also have been entering their houses and eating cooked food.
Ngugi Njenga, one of the residents, said the monkey menace has reduced them to beggars as they are forced to rely on relief food.
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He said most of the residents have given up on farming because all their efforts go to waste.
“We are forced to rely on relief food because anything we plant in our farms is destroyed by the monkeys even before maturity.
“We watch as the primates invade our farms but there is nothing we can do to chase them out,” he said.
Veronica Nyambura, another resident, said the primates pose a threat to the women and young girls in the area as they constantly attack them.
She said the monkeys move in a group of 20s to 30s and this instills fear in them.
“We are always on the lookout because these animals can attack us anytime and we are rescued by men,” she said.
Government urged to move monkeys
The residents are now demanding that the government compensates them for the losses incurred and find a way of eradicating the monkeys from the area.
Gatanga Member of Parliament (MP) Edward Muriu, who responded to the distress call from the residents, said Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers will be deployed in the area for one week to help drive out the monkeys.
“This is an agricultural area that is highly productive but the people have not been harvesting anything because the monkeys have been destroying everything.
“We hope this exercise will be a success so that the residents can get back to the farms,” he added.
In 2016, former Murang’a governor Mwangi Wa Iria launched a program to have the monkeys repatriated to the forest after a widespread cry out from the locals.
The governor had some officers deployed to set up traps to nab the monkeys, a move that the public termed as laughable.
