Locusts Have Landed In Bungoma County: To Mourn Or To Feast?

“We are really waiting for them (locusts). We must eat them. Our forefathers used to eat them. It is long since we tested the delicacy,” said Mama Rachel Naliaka, from Mbakalo, Kimilili Constituency, Bungoma County.

“Locusts have arrived in Bungoma County. Locals have been warned against eating them,” screamed a headline on one of the local newspapers in the country.

“Eat locust so that you can have strength in bed, MP tells Bungoma County residents,” screamed yet another headline on another local paper.

“We have enough maize flour. We are just waiting for the “vegetables” (locusts) to arrive,” says another old man, in his mid-50s, from Tongaren Constituency, Bungoma County.

The jokes about the locusts are at their peak. If Kenyans were to win a gold medal in making jokes about locusts, the gold medal would be home and square.

Even the President, while speaking before the President of Germany, who is in Kenya for bilateral talks, said that the locusts have been maintained and that the effects were “not as bad as it had been predicted.” That was a joke. Right?

But the locusts seem unperturbed by the ongoing jokes about them. They have steered clear on their mission. They are moving from one county to another, ravaging anything that looks like a plant on their way.

READ: Locusts In Kenya To Multiply 500 Times By June 2020

The locusts have now affected more than 20 counties. They are leaving behind a trail of destruction that is so immense that those affected can only describe through sign languages.

The locusts have now landed in Bungoma County. Although the locals have been warned “against eating them,” the locals seem to be in high spirits, their appetites warmed up waiting for the “mboga” to land. The locusts are yellow in color and experts say they might be poisonous if consumed.

Whether residents in Bungoma will consume the locusts or not, here is what they and the country should expect. Bungoma County is among the major food baskets in Kenya. The arrival of locusts should send chills down the spines of stakeholders because the country is looking at an acute food shortage.

Within no time, the locusts will hit Trans-Nzoia County, another food basket and if nothing will be done to stop them, then Kenyans have no otherwise but to prepare for hunger.

By the way, a source within those who are spraying the locusts indicates that those taking part are “diluting the chemicals” and sometimes spraying “just water” so that the locusts can spread as they continue making money. Whether this is true or not, nobody knows but again, this is Kenya.

READ: Uganda To Use USH 2,250,000,000 To Hire Stone Throwers To Stone Locusts