The Rampage That Led To Ban Of Donkeys From Nanyuki Town
Updated on: Dec 04, 2020
The beast of burden has long been treasured and adored for her service. Nanyuki is no exception. Here donkeys have a history of serving the towns need for transport services.
Despite their recognition for this social-economic role, do you know female donkey are banned from setting foot on Nanyukis central business district?
It happened that in mid-1950s donkeys went on a rampage in the town leaving wanton destruction in their wake in an incident that is still the talk of the town decades later.
On this particular hot afternoon, a group of donkeys went wild and stormed a popular joint in Nanyuki town where residents were having a good time. This was occasioned by a jennet that was being chased by about five jack donkeys.
When the female donkey stormed Nyakio pub, the males went in with a damaging force recalls Peter Warutere a 72-year-old resident of Nanyuki.
Those that were pulling carts also went in and caused a huge mess, he adds with a giggle at the end.
The chase that ensued inside the joint caused a huge damage.
They left broken glasses, bottles and furniture.
Customers and staff of Nyakio Hotel fled for safety as the donkeys were berserk and untamable.
The saga prompted a ban whose aim was to prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again.
As funny and strange as it may sound, the jennet donkey was banned from setting foot anywhere within Nanyuki town. Ms. Sophy Grattan, a Nanyuki resident and a celebrated champion for the donkey rights, out of the love she has for animals has not helped secure freedom of movement for the female donkeys after the discriminative ban on them after the 1950's incident.
She opines that the ban on jennets alone was selective since "the jack donkeys being the boys were probably the worst" in terms of behavior.
She shares the story of one lady who encountered donkeys mating outside the banking hall.
According to Ms Grattan the elderly women of European origin was absolutely furious and shocked by the scene which also prompted the ban on the female donkeys "for behaving badly". "The ban has never been lifted, but don't let the police stop the jennet donkeys from coming in because it is just an amusing ban" she adds.
From what had been witnessed after the wild rampage Warutere acknowledges that the ban was justified.
Another old resident of Nanyuki Mr. Elias Esafa reckons it was illegal and a punishable offence for a female donkey to visit the town for the reason that it would make the male ones go nuts and in turn cause damages.
"A female donkey on heat was chased by male donkeys and ended up inside the old Nyakio" he reiterates. The Nyakio story was a vivid example of how discriminative colonial policies were.
For the working jack donkeys, it was business as usual.
As arrogant as it may feel that only the jack was favoured, worth noting is the fact that the jennet was not a beast of burden back then. Only the jacks pulled carts and carried goods as the working ones were allowed to serve the town and the beautiful ones stayed at home.
On a lighter note Mr. Warutere says that donkeys also had bad manners and believes the ban was also aimed at censoring the bad image of mating donkeys from the public eye. According to him the residents felt that it was obscene especially for young children to see donkeys mating in public.
Misbehaving in public seems to have been the root cause of the ban. As ridiculous and as natural as the reasons may sound, I still argue that it tells a moral story of how dearly the Nanyuki society embraced moral uprightness and public decency.
As Nanyuki turns a century old it is still a mystery if the jennet's cry for freedom can be heard. If the ban was truly put down on paper, one can only ponder and wonder if the county government of the day will go down in history for lifting the ban.
Despite their recognition for this social-economic role, do you know female donkey are banned from setting foot on Nanyukis central business district?
It happened that in mid-1950s donkeys went on a rampage in the town leaving wanton destruction in their wake in an incident that is still the talk of the town decades later.
On this particular hot afternoon, a group of donkeys went wild and stormed a popular joint in Nanyuki town where residents were having a good time. This was occasioned by a jennet that was being chased by about five jack donkeys.
When the female donkey stormed Nyakio pub, the males went in with a damaging force recalls Peter Warutere a 72-year-old resident of Nanyuki.
Those that were pulling carts also went in and caused a huge mess, he adds with a giggle at the end.
The chase that ensued inside the joint caused a huge damage.
They left broken glasses, bottles and furniture.
Customers and staff of Nyakio Hotel fled for safety as the donkeys were berserk and untamable.
The saga prompted a ban whose aim was to prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again.
As funny and strange as it may sound, the jennet donkey was banned from setting foot anywhere within Nanyuki town. Ms. Sophy Grattan, a Nanyuki resident and a celebrated champion for the donkey rights, out of the love she has for animals has not helped secure freedom of movement for the female donkeys after the discriminative ban on them after the 1950's incident.
She opines that the ban on jennets alone was selective since "the jack donkeys being the boys were probably the worst" in terms of behavior.
She shares the story of one lady who encountered donkeys mating outside the banking hall.
According to Ms Grattan the elderly women of European origin was absolutely furious and shocked by the scene which also prompted the ban on the female donkeys "for behaving badly". "The ban has never been lifted, but don't let the police stop the jennet donkeys from coming in because it is just an amusing ban" she adds.
From what had been witnessed after the wild rampage Warutere acknowledges that the ban was justified.
Another old resident of Nanyuki Mr. Elias Esafa reckons it was illegal and a punishable offence for a female donkey to visit the town for the reason that it would make the male ones go nuts and in turn cause damages.
"A female donkey on heat was chased by male donkeys and ended up inside the old Nyakio" he reiterates. The Nyakio story was a vivid example of how discriminative colonial policies were.
For the working jack donkeys, it was business as usual.
As arrogant as it may feel that only the jack was favoured, worth noting is the fact that the jennet was not a beast of burden back then. Only the jacks pulled carts and carried goods as the working ones were allowed to serve the town and the beautiful ones stayed at home.
On a lighter note Mr. Warutere says that donkeys also had bad manners and believes the ban was also aimed at censoring the bad image of mating donkeys from the public eye. According to him the residents felt that it was obscene especially for young children to see donkeys mating in public.
Misbehaving in public seems to have been the root cause of the ban. As ridiculous and as natural as the reasons may sound, I still argue that it tells a moral story of how dearly the Nanyuki society embraced moral uprightness and public decency.
As Nanyuki turns a century old it is still a mystery if the jennet's cry for freedom can be heard. If the ban was truly put down on paper, one can only ponder and wonder if the county government of the day will go down in history for lifting the ban.
