Translation of the newspaper article:

Residents of rural areas in Malindi and Magarini sub-counties in Kilifi County are hungry after elephants invaded farms and destroyed food crops.

Elephants from Tsavo East National Park have invaded communal water points and farms in recent months, consuming the small crops available and exposing residents to hunger and insecurity.

Shadrack Yaa, a farmer in Shakahola village in Chakama, expressed his disappointment on social media, saying he had spent sleepless nights guarding his crops.

"The calamity of hunger stares at Shakahola. Elephants have invaded our farms and destroyed food. He has been hunting elephants every night for a month," the post read.

The animals have devoured most parts of Adu and Chakama wards and cut down all maize plants, banana and coconut trees. According to the residents, the animals destroy farms and block the paths of shopping malls every day from 6 pm onwards, posing a great danger to the people.

Village elders claim they have engaged local community representatives, MPs and senior KWS guards in both Tsavo and Malindi, but their efforts have not borne fruit.

"We tried to press our leaders, we visited KWS offices and asked them to bring helicopters, but they only brought a pick-up of six KWS rangers who could not contain the situation at all," said Kombe Yaa, one of the village elders in Shakahola.

Adu community representative Stanley Kenga acknowledged the damage caused by the animals and disclosed that unsuccessful efforts have been made to contain the situation.

During a telephonic conversation, he said he had engaged various concerned government departments but the KWS officials deployed to assist were too few to accommodate the elephants scattered across the constituency.

"As we speak, I had a meeting with the Director General of Kenya Wildlife Service at Malindi Marine Park and he promised me before the end of the day that there will be a permanent solution," he said. "We have engaged these people for a long time, they have not been able to solve this problem, so I cannot promise when this will be solved."

The elders criticised the low response of the government and said their region has been neglected.

"We have seen places like Amboseli and Masai Mara evicting elephants from residential areas, but we have not seen those efforts here. We are suffering," said Samson Zia, an elder in Shakahola.

The residents have asked the government to take immediate action to save the situation and avoid possible animal-human conflicts that could lead to the killing of the animals.

By Harrison Yeri and Jackson Msanzu