Residents of Karindi village in Kabura/Uhuyi sub-location in Siaya have petitioned the government to reign in unscrupulous sand harvesters operating along the banks of River Nzoia to save their land and livelihoods.
According to the residents, the uncontrolled sand harvesting has seen their land sink into the river due to erosion hence reducing arable land.
Speaking at Wath Kojwando in Siaya West Sub-County, the residents said that the illegal activities at the riverbanks have made the banks risky to both human beings and their domestic animals who depend on the river for water.
Mzee Michael Osunga said that their plea to local administrators has often fallen on deaf ears as the sand scoopers become bolder after every report is made.
Osunga said that in the recent past they have saved three women from drowning after the soil collapsed as they were drawing water for domestic use.
The residents, among them Abednego Odhiambo said the sand scoopers, who operate at night come armed to the teeth and often beat and hurl unprintable abuses at anybody who dares question or attempt to stop them from carrying out the illegal activities.
Dereda Leah Amunga and Kevin Oduor Okumu, a water vendor, lamented that more than 3,000 people who rely on Wath Kojwando water point for their domestic water supply were no longer safe as they risk breaking their limbs due to gullies and weak soil that keeps on collapsing.
Odhiambo said that unless quick action was taken by the relevant authorities, the locals will have to mobilise themselves to protect their land from the marauding gang that they said operates from the neighbouring Ugenya sub county.
An environmentalist, George Spencer Wambiya who hails from the area warned of irreversible damage to River Nzoia’s ecosystem.
Wambiya, who donated bamboo seedlings to the residents to plant at the damaged riverbank, lamented that by targeting the riverbanks instead of concentrating their activities in the riverbed, the sand scoopers were accelerating erosion and threatening lives.
The residents called on the national government and the county government of Siaya to act fast and stop the activities, failure to which they will be forced to violently stop the intruders.
Karindi villagers’ cry comes hot on the heels of another petition by the residents of Rapenji village in Sigoma – Uranga sub-location, who cried that they have lost close to 20 acres of land due to the uncontrolled activities of the sand scoopers operating in Nzoia River.
With no intervention from the relevant government bodies, despite making numerous visits to the authorities, the residents are worried that soon they will lose everything after the river forced a waterway in one of the farms, creating an island.
Early last year, a security meeting called to settle dispute over sand harvesting in the area ended in disarray when the chairman of the sand harvesters was clobbered to death after skirmishes broke out.
Several people were injured and rushed to hospitals as the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) and the few policemen who had accompanied them tried in vain to bring sanity amongst the adversaries.
Police were forced to fire in the air as the residents hurriedly left the meeting venue at Nyandori in Sigoma Uranga sub-location in Siaya West sub-county.
The meeting was organised by the national administration officers from Siaya West and Ugenya sub-counties to solve perennial disputes over sand harvesting along the banks of River Nzoia which forms the boundary between the two sub-counties.
By Philip Onyango
