Inside bloody, illegal multi-million sand business in Makueni

A man fetches water from a section of Kaloku River reclaimed from sand harvesting. A section of the river has dried but residents are grateful for the reclaimed section because they can get water.

Like poisonous snakes that use their lethal venom to subdue their prey for food and ward off enemies, the Akamba people of South Eastern Kenya have traditionally used poisoned arrows for food and self-defence.

But the slender sticks steeped with death are now being used as scare and killing tools for totally different reasons; illegal exploitation of the region’s white gold by people hungry for cheap money.

Sand that in Ukambani and other semi-arid areas translates into water and by extension, life, is sought and guarded as a matter of life and death.

The seasonal river courses known to choke with the white or brown stuff so crucial in construction works are today’s battle fields where hired youths fight bloody battles for absentee masters who pay them but a pittance.

The youth, many drawn from the classrooms by the urge for quick money stumble into pervasive ways such as alcohol, drugs and casual sex.

Rape cases and unwanted pregnancies are common among girls in schools located around the sand mines.

Priceless reservoirs

It is a devastating spectacle for parents as they not only stare into a blank future, but watch their children degenerate into zombies. Sad! The police with their guns watch passively as the game of poisoned arrows plays out.

They are accused of turning their roadblocks into unofficial toll stations for the sand ferrying lorries.

The orgy of impunity in the sand harvesting saga reared its ugly head for the umpteenth time recently when desperate residents of Kasikeu Location in Mukaa Sub-county descended on illegal sand harvesters in the wee hours of the night, setting ablaze two lorries packed to the brim with the precious commodity.

The lorries were mere smoking shells of metal by the time we arrived at the scene on Kaluku River below Kasikeu shopping centre, located about 10km from Sultan Hamud.

Distraught youths who rely on the illegal business for their livelihood could be seen hovering around, their faces a study in frustration.

It is said the youth were spoiling for a revenge attack on the residents. Besides Kaluku River, illegal sand harvesting is in top gear at Masaani, Kiungwani, Mangala Enguli, Kayata, Mbitini and Kwa Nditi rivers to name but a few, robbing residents and their livestock of valuable water sources. What remains is despair and hopelessness as depleted priceless reservoirs dry up.

Signs that bows and arrows had featured prominently in the battle for Kaluku were all there with stains of blood that soaked the sand and stretched away from the river up a bush-ringed footpath.

The victim said to have been among the repulsed raiders was a Form Two student at a local school. Fortunately for him, the arrow was not poisonous. He has since resumed classes, albeit still in pain after the arrow head was plucked out.

Flash back. A raid by illegal sand harvesters in nearby Mwangini River in December 2012 ended tragically with two deaths and several injuries, according to the members of the Kasikeu Water Resource Users Association (KWRUA).

The association brings together close to 700 members drawn from the hilly villages served by the endangered seasonal rivers.

Natural barrier

Among those killed was a father of six, Kimeu Kitone, shot above the knee with a poisoned arrow. Four years later, the Kitone family has seen no justice. His father, Mzee Kitone Mulwa recalls how he was chased away at Sultan Hamud Police Station and told to “go and harvest sand” when he went to report the killing of his son.

“The person we suspected of releasing the killer arrow on our son was never arrested,” agonises Mzee Mulwa.

“The deaths and the burning of a lorry at Mwangini River where a driver was beheaded formed a watershed because raids there ceased and the river is today fully rehabilitated with enough water to sustain irrigated agriculture. The same happened at Kikuu River in Nzaui Sub-county,” another resident says.

Back to Kaluku River. Not far upstream from the scene of the burnt lorries valued at millions of shillings are lush farms of kale (sukuma wiki), spinach and tomatoes grown by irrigation with water scooped from a site secured naturally by boulders that cannot allow lorries through.

“Those boulders are our lack,” says Julius Mutungi pointing at the natural barrier. He adds: “This illegal harvesting of sand has turned once prosperous farmers destitute. The government ought to tackle it with seriousness.”

Downstream on the same river is a sorry archetype of destruction where a stretch once choking with sand has been scoured dry down to the rocks.

Where people and livestock once walked on sand and water could effortlessly be dug out using fingers or sticks; a chasm several metres deep has formed necessitating a makeshift bridge to cross. Similar scenes are evident in Mukaa Sub-county and a number of places in the county.

Kilome Deputy County Commissioner Fredrick Ouma, warns lorry owners to avoid hiring out their vehicles for illegal activities likely to attract mob justice and loss of compensation.

“We urge affected communities to desist from taking the law into their hands,” he says.

Confronted with complaints that sand lorries pass by his office at Malili near the proposed Konza Techno City, Ouma says it is up to the police to pick out lorries ferrying illegally harvested sand and arrest the culprits.

“The same route is used by lorries licensed to carry sand from Kajiado County. I know bribery is rife. The remedy is to spirit out rotten police officers,” he says.

Mukaa OCPD Muchiri Mbogo acknowledges complaints against his officers and promises to take appropriate action. “We have arrested many lorries and fined their owners,” he says, but falls short of satisfactorily explaining why the same lorries continue being used to ferry sand.

Kilome MP Regina Ndambuki, is livid over suffering constituents who may not have any water in the near future if the destruction continues.

She says the fight against illegal sand harvesting has been frustrated by corrupt police officers who eat with the criminals as the people hurt.

“The people know errant police officers and are ready to list down their names so that we can involve higher authorities in their removal if the local bosses are unable to take remedial measures. But where is Nema and other relevant agencies on this issue?” says Ndambuki who visited the scene of the latest violence on Kaluku River.

“Our youth should look for something better to do instead of being engaged by get rich quick criminals,” she advises. Ndambuki threatens to approach the government to deploy the dreaded General Service Unit (GSU) in the area if the harvesting of sand does not come to an end. Indeed, a day after the MP’s visit, several lorries were seen in the area harvesting sand.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr in a letter dated June 25, 2015, to Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett notes: “I have reported this matter to the county commissioner in vain.” He says the young men are using bows and arrows to terrorise communities and anyone who stands in their way.

The Senator appeals to Mr Boinett to send reinforcement to Kilome Constituency to arrest owners of the lorries and their workers before the situation gets out of hand.

Life threats

“I am convinced the administration is compromised or overwhelmed by this runaway abuse of the law or both,” he says.

Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana has issued a decree banning commercial sand harvesting pending a policy regulation yet to be rolled out by the County Government; a move that has elicited death threats from the cartels controlling the lucrative business. A bill on sand harvesting is currently before the County Assembly.

Prof Kibwana has vowed never to be cowed by the threats on his life and criticised the police for looking the other way as cartels defied the ban.