Residents of Karindi village in Kabura-Uhuyi sub-location in Siaya County have petitioned the government to reign in unscrupulous sand harvesters along the banks of Nzoia River to save their land and livelihoods.

Conservationists have also weighed in with concerns over serious environmental degradation.

The residents say unregulated sand harvesting has resulted in their land “sinking 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 on the riverbanks had made the banks risky for both human beings and their livestock that depend on the river for water.

Michael Osunga said their plea to local administrators has often fell on deaf ears as the sand scoopers become bolder after every report is made. Osunga said they have in the recent past 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 to anybody who dare 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 gulleys 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 river bank 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 river Nzoia.

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 water way in one of the farms, creating an island.

Early last year, a security meeting called to settle the 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.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Philip Onyango