Nairobi was built with Machakos sand, but that is about to change

As sand harvesters exploit the last of the remaining streams in Machakos to supply Nairobi developers, residents have begun picketing to preserve their fragile ecosystems. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • As the capital opens its bowels to swallow even more building materials, demand for construction shingle and gravel is at an all-time high.

  • Lorries are making the beeline towards the traditional sand harvesting grounds of Ukambani, where they are meeting an increasingly hostile community... and an even more inimical local regulatory framework.

There is an old saying that the Isuzu TXD truck of the 1970s and ’80s built Nairobi. While this might have been a marketing coinage of a creative genius at General Motors, it cannot be off the mark by much.

Were we, however, to use the same marketing line, we would not be attempting to sell anything if we said Machakos built Nairobi. Sand from Machakos built the capital, to be specific.

That statement rings true because those ubiquitous Isuzu trucks credited with building the capital would not have acquired that fame were it not for the cargo they ferried, which had been scooped from the riverbeds of the larger Ukambani.

Payload by payload, the trucks have transported millions of tonnes of sand from this generally dry region to the capital over the years. But that is about to change as residents start feeling the combined effects of climate change and drying river beds.

At Makiliva village, a small settlement in Mwala, Anna Morris is a troubled woman. She cannot find water for her livestock here, and so she is forced to trek tens of kilometres in search of the precious commodity every day. The situation is getting worse by the year, and she blames it on the exploitation of the rivers here for commercial purposes.

All the sand in the rivers and streams of Makiliva has been transported to Nairobi and Machakos to build glistening towers, and so when it rains the rivers cannot retain the water, which then rushes downstream, eroding the streams and rivers further and leaving Anna and her cows even thirstier.

“My wish is for the government to completely outlaw sand harvesting here,” she told DN2 recently.

The Machakos county government has already passed the Sand Harvesting Act, 2014 to regulate the exploitation of river beds for building materials, but the law seems not have been a deterrent enough for business people.

Last month residents of Wendano in Ekalakala, Masinga demonstrated against sand harvesting in the area, saying the business had not only destroyed their rivers, but their families too as children were dropping out of school to be employed as casual labourers in the harvesting fields.

PREFERRED BY NAIROBI MERCHANTS

A few kilometres away in Mwala, River Nditha, preferred by Nairobi merchants for its pristine sand, long lost its glory, even though trucks still line its beds to scoop whatever they can.

Anna is adamant that the harvesting has to stop, but developers do not have any other alternative to sand, and so the demand remains high.

As Machakos County restricts the business, sand hauliers are going as far as Enziu, a small shopping centre about 30 kilometres from Mwingi town on the road to Garissa, to harvest sand. Others are looking towards Narok and Kajiado for the same.

According to National Environment Management Authority (Nema) regulations, sand harvesters must be licensed by the authority. However, there are fears that some harvesters might not have the requisite documentation, or may have forged the same.

Also, there are concerns that Nema is not adequately policing this important area, which explains why riverbeds have been so exploited that they cannot support even small ecosystems, let alone larger farming communities.

Nema, also, is mandated with the responsibility of designating particular rivers for sand harvesting, but the situation on the ground suggests that the business is a free-for-all, make-a-quick-buck affair.

According to statutory regulations, sand harvesting is strictly restricted to riverbeds, 50 metres from river banks and 100 metres from any infrastructure, including roads, bridges and railways. That means small streams which do not meet the width requirements, such as most of those exploited in Machakos, should be off the bounds for harvesters.

The authority advocates for the formation of localised riparian resource management associations aimed at regulating the activity and rehabilitating harvested regions. However, none of that has been done in the areas that we visited.

A lorryful of sand fetches as low as Sh1,000 and a maximum of Sh1,600 in the larger Machakos, which residents say is too little and does not reflect the damage the business is doing to their environment.

“The county government of Machakos gets nothing from the business while it spends millions building and repairing roads,” says Yatta MP Francis Mwangangi.

BRIDGES WASHED AWAY

“Bridges are being washed away every rainy season because of this business.”

Several weeks ago a police boss was transferred from Mwala after residents accused him of collaborating with sand harvesters against their wishes of conserving the environment. But Mwangangi, the Yatta MP, feels more could be done, and has challenged the police leadership in Kangundo to stop the illegal harvesting of sand in the area.

Mwangangi, however, says the police might not have the motivation to fight the vice because some of them are involved in the business.

Contacted for comment, the office of Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, through the director of communication Mutinda Mwanzia, said it was considering a total ban of sand harvesting in the county.

“The governor is committed to ensuring that the environment is protected. Sand scooping is a big challenge and it will be adequately addressed,” said Mwanzia.

However, Mwangangi insists that it is the Nema regulations that should inform the activity and not county government’s regulations since they have loopholes which have been used by unscrupulous people to continue destroying the environment.

“We have two options,” he says, “to take action, or watch as others destroy our environment.”