KATIMA MULILO – A local farmer at Mafuta on the outskirts of Katima Mulilo, Davis Kamwi accuses the Directorate of Veterinary Services of negligence, which led to the death of his Brahman cow and a calf.
Joseph Iita the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry under which the Directorate of Veterinary Services falls has assured the farmer that “the matter is under [consideration] within the existing government structure and feedback will be communicated to you in due course.” Iita had further stated: “Your letter of complaint on the loss of your animals and claim for compensation has been received by this ministry and is receiving urgent attention.” But the farmer Davis Kamwi says despite the assurance by the Permanent Secretary to compensate him for the losss of a Brahman cow and its calf communicated to him seven months ago in April the ministry is dragging its feet. According to Kamwi, in March this year his cow which was about to calve had developed complications resulting from contractions which prevented it from giving birth. This prompted him to call experts from the veterinary office to come to his aid. Upon their arrival he was told his cow has had a miscarriage and therefore its uterus which was discharged needed to be pushed back in. officials then shoved the uterus back in before they stitched up the cow. This was apparently to prevent the uterus from repeated discharges. It is even alleged that officials inserted an empty beer bottle to block the uterus which kept coming out saying such measures were common.
According to Kamwi, the assertion that the cow has had a miscarriage was repeatedly stressed by the chief animal health technician Albert Muloho who is said to have even gotten into an argument with the cattle herder regarding the matter despite the cow clearly showing signs of pregnancy. The cow was left in that condition with the stitches for three days until it once again showed signs of being ready to calve it is alleged. However, this did not materialise since the stitches prevented it from giving normal birth and this eventually led to both the cow and its unborn calf dying.
Kamwi further alleges that he called officials of the ministry to attend to his emergency, but to no avail. After the cow had died he said he visited the offices to get an explanation. “I went back to the ministry for them to tell me what was going on and they kept denying, saying the cow had nothing in the uterus and that was the reason its vagina was sewn up to prevent the uterus from being discharged. So, if that’s the case how did the hoofs of the calf appear when my cow started showing signs of calving the second time. For me this was an act of incompetence and negligence and I am demanding compensation for the loss of my animal,” demanded Kamwi. He accused the chief animal health technician in the directorate, Albert Muloho as the person who inserted an empty beer bottle in the uterus when the cow had complications with calving, saying when Muloho was confronted about this he vowed never to attend to Kamwi’s problems again. “The loss of my cow and calf was caused by Albert Muloho, the chief animal health technician. This officer has on several occasions even threatened me saying he will never attend to me again and that he will not allow officers to attend to issues related to my farm,” alleged Kamwi. Muloho however denied even knowing who Kamwi is saying he does not know anything about the issue. “I don’t know anything regarding this issue,” said Muloho.
Despite his denial Muloho admitted in a local newspaper that he attended to Kamwi’s farm and even confessed to have inserted an empty beer bottle before stitching up the cow. He is quoted as having said he has been doing this for 40 years and that he knew he could remove the bottle after 14 days.
Sources within the ministry said the Kamwi matter was referred to government lawyers who are supposed to decide whether Kamwi should receive compensation for his loss.
By George Sanzila