Kitui now drafts sand harvesting law

Musyoka Kimanthi is a devastated man. The sand miner at River Kivou in Kitui County has seen the value of the commodity reduce drastically over the years. A decade ago, the former chairman of the defunct Kivou Riparian Resource Management Self-Help Group in Mwingi, says a 20-tonne truck of sand cost Sh14,000 at the riverbeds. This has since reduced to Sh6,000 due to the proliferation of a syndicate of powerful middlemen. 

“We had organised ourselves and had in place a set of rules which saw sand loaders, the riparian community, and the local government get Sh2, 000 each. The remaining Sh8,000 went to a sacco of sand producers and community projects,” said Mr Kimanthi, who is also a peasant farmer.

“With such arrangement, we supported the secondary school education of bright students through a bursary scheme, contributed to the construction of Kasevi Girls Secondary School and set up a latrine of Kivou chief’s camp. Unfortunately, the arrangement collapsed at the advent of devolution after powerful individuals hijacked the sand industry,” he added. Although the management of sand resources is a devolved function, Kitui is among many counties which lack comprehensive laws on sand harvesting, a decade down the line. 

A previous attempt by the devolved unit to sanitise the sand sector failed to bear fruit. Kitui has in the recent years witnessed an upsurge of unregulated sand harvesting, which poses risks of environmental degradation, loss of revenue, emergence of unregulated groups and cartels jostling over the resource leading to insecurity and social chaos at the sand harvesting sites.

Healthy Nation has established that a 20-tonne truck of sand which costs Sh6,000 at the riverbeds fetches around Sh40,000 in Nairobi and Thika, the main markets for Kitui sand. 
Kitui Governor Julius Malombe has moved to restore the sand sector’s lost glory in a move that is set to place him on a collision course with sand brokers. He is banking on the enactment of a law on sand harvesting and trade in the semi-arid county.

Gathering views 
Senior Kitui county government officials recently met with Kitui MCAs at a Mwingi hotel to put final touches on the Kitui County River Basins Sand Utilisation and Conservation Bill 2023.  The county government is currently gathering views from the public on the law.  

The drafting of the sand law follows the recommendations made by a taskforce which Dr Malombe set up earlier in the year to advise him on how to bring sanity in the multimillion sand industry while at the same time restoring rivers degraded by years of uncontrolled sand mining. 

“Acknowledging that sand harvesting boosts the livelihoods of the locals, we need to come up with policies to regulate sand harvesting that has caused serious damage and depleted the environment,” said Tseikuru Ward representative Kimanzi Mwange who is also the chairman of the Kitui County assembly’s environment committee. 

“We envisage a situation where only a few trucks which are licensed will be allowed into designated areas of the rivers where sand loaders will have jobs. That sand will be taken to aggregation yards. It is from this point where those who want sand for commercial use will be able to come and buy.

County revenue officers will be able to collect revenue in an organised manner following a laid down structure. The sand scoopers will have jobs twice: at the riverbeds and at the aggregation yards. This will translate to more jobs for the youth,” Dr Malombe said, shedding some light on the contents of the draft sand management law undergoing fine-tuning. 

The Kitui sand taskforce benchmarked with the neighbouring Makueni County which streamlined sand trade in 2015 after enacting Makueni County Sand Conservation and Utilisation Act. 

The law, which is credited with bringing sanity in the sand sector and restoring rivers destroyed by years of wanton sand harvesting, places sand resources at the hands of a Makueni Sand Conservation and Utilisation Authority, a semi-autonomous agency which uses a clear formula to distribute the proceeds of sand trade across the community, with special emphasis on environmental conservation efforts which include restoration of rivers.

The substantial political goodwill notwithstanding, Dr Malombe is still expected to confront riparian communities and licensed sand transporters, the other powerful groups which environmental conservationists accuse of frustrating efforts to streamline the sand sector.
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