Benson Amadala
24 July 2008
Nairobi — Cuddling her three-month-old son, Lonah Muruli struggled to hold back tears running down her face. She could not believe she would never see her husband and her brother-in-law alive again; they had just been shot dead by forest guards as they herded cattle in Kakamega Forest.
Her husband, Mr Frederick Muruli, 34, left their grass-thatch house in a hurry, accompanied by his younger brother Godwin Muhanga, 21, to try and recover the family's nine head of cattle earlier seized by the guards.
Mr Muruli told his wife that he would go and talk to the guards to try and get the animals released, then return home.
He had been jovial and confident when he left the house, but the turn of events has since jolted Lonah and left her dazed. Frederick was caught up in a violent confrontation with the guards who opened fire, killing him alongside his young brother.
"Shortly after my husband left I heard screams and gun shots. I ran towards the scene and met a neighbour on the way who told me my husband and his younger brother had been shot dead by the guards," Lonah said tearfully.
The two were shot after villagers confronted five forest guards who had detained their cattle and were driving them to the district forest offices at Lurambi, next to the Kakamega showground.
The guards found the animals grazing on a patch of land covered by bushes and lush grass which used to form part of the dense forest, now under threat from human activity, exacerbated by population pressure.
Communities around the forest have laid claim to use of the forest resources, saying it was their God-given right from time immemorial.
Villagers sneak into the forest to look for medicinal herbs, collect firewood and herd cattle, but each time such moves have sparked ugly confrontations with the local administration officials and forest guards on patrol.
The authorities have been engaged in a long drawn campaign to control the trail of destruction in the forest brought about by felling of indigenous trees for timber and charcoal.
Mzee Hezron Luchitio Liyai, 70, said the Government should work closely with the villagers if their efforts to conserve the forest are to bear fruit. He cited harassment by the guards, and said the community should be allowed to contribute to the conservation by being involved in the re-afforestation campaign.
Lonah's mother-in-law, Mama Colleta Indatsi, 60, was distraught and speechless after tragedy struck yet again. For the last two years she has been nursing her ailing husband, Benjamin Mukeya, who has been bedridden after their two other sons died a year ago.
The agony of nursing her husband has thrown her life into despair, but the death of her sons came as crushing blow, draining away her energy.
Grieving, she had spent the night with relatives at the scene where her sons were shot, until police arrived the next day to take the bodies to the provincial mortuary.
"I have not known any happiness for two years, and now I have lost my sons in such a brutal way. What have I done to deserve this?" she mourned.
Her sons were shot in an open field, just a short distance from their home. Witnesses said the guards opened fire after they were confronted by machete-wielding villagers.
Police had earlier indicated that 10 villagers found felling trees to burn charcoal had attacked the guards and attempted to snatch their guns. But the Nation visited the scene, and did not find any evidence of villagers having felled trees to burn charcoal.
One of the guards sustained serious injuries when he was slashed in the head and left hand during the confrontation. Angry villagers set on fire a tea nursery belonging to the Nyayo Tea Zone Corporation after the shooting.
Villagers told the Nation they were asked to pay fines of up to Sh200 per cow whenever the forest guards detained their cattle for straying into the forest.
But they appear to have defied the authorities after what happened and were herding their cattle in the same field without fear of arrest by the forest guards a day after the shooting.
Women accompanied by their children were returning from the forest with huge loads of firewood.
Mr Boniface Buredi said he was prepared to take the risk and sneak into the forest to fetch firewood which he later sold to earn some money so he could buy food for his family.
The 21-year-old father of three went into the forest at dawn and gathered enough firewood making sure he was not arrested by the forest guards, he said. A load of firewood sells at Sh100, just enough to buy the family a meal for the day.
The field has been open to grazing after a commercial logger was licensed by the Government to fell trees for timber 30 years ago. Part of the grazing land has been set aside for the Nyayo Tea Zone for planting of tea bushes. But the Forest Department is planting tree seedlings on the land to restore lost forest cover.
Forest graze
The killing of the two brothers from Senyende village, Shinyalu Division, has re-ignited a long drawn fight for use of the dwindling forest resources, pitting the villagers living on the fringes of the forest against the authorities.
Villagers from Shiswa, Shisembe, Mukulusi and Itenyi sub-locations neighbouring the forest graze their animals on the land and collect firewood at a fee.
The four locations have an estimated population of 40,000 people who directly depend on the forest resources for firewood, herbal medicine and grass for cattle.
"We are prepared to protect and conserve the forest, but we are constantly harassed by the guards who detain our animals at the slightest excuse and impose huge fines," said Mr Zablon Okwemba.
A committee has been set up to involve the villagers in conservation and prudent use of forest resources.
Mama Indatsi pleaded with the Government to pay for the burial of her sons.
District forest officer Peter Wachira Mukira refused to be interviewed.
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