Allure of good wages pulls tens to Mandera

Mandera County, located in the North Eastern region, borders Ethiopia to the North, Somalia Republic to the East, and Wajir County to the South and South West.
The county is unique in many ways. The social lives of the local Somalis forming the larger population will greet you on arrival, but behind the warm welcome, there is more than meets the eye.
Those who can tell the story better are the casual workers hired by the local community to work in the quarries.
Some of the questions many ask themselves are: Why hire people from far to work in the quarries? Why are these people attracted to work in the quarries despite the scorching sun and insecurity?
Mr James Maina, from Chaka in Nyeri County, says good pay attracts them, besides, the locals cannot do such a tedious job.

SH38
Mr Maina talks of a good pay of Sh38 a foot for every cut stone.
“We are facing challenges and the biggest of it all is insecurity in the quarries, residential areas and along the roads,” he opens up.
He says in the quarries, for those in Mandera East, one of them has to join the team of officers offering security to ensure they are not ‘sold’ to the enemy.
“We cannot trust the police reservists provided to guard us in the quarries. We have formulated our own ways of ensuring we are safe,” he said.
News about attacks in quarries is never news any more in Mandera since the raids by the al-Shabaab militants have become too common.

AIRLIFTED
On Thursday evening, suspected al-Shabaab militants trekked 70km from the Kenya-Somalia border at Elwak and raided a quarry at Shimbir Fatuma killing four. Two others were injured during the 5pm attack.
Yesterday, a major anti-terrorism operation continued in Mandera following the al-Shabaab attack in which one person is still missing. Two survivors were airlifted to Nairobi where they were admitted to hospital.
The victims were quarry workers at Shimbir Fatuma, Mandera South.
North Eastern regional commissioner Mohamud Saleh ordered all quarries in the area to be closed following the attack.

RESCUED
“A cordon and search operation targeting the terrorists is ongoing in the area and all quarries have been ordered closed indefinitely by the Regional Commissioner. Additional information shall be provided when obtained,” said the national police communication office.
There were 156 workers at the quarry during the 5pm attack.
“The workers were rescued by a combined multi agency team of National Police Service and Kenya Defence Forces,” the police also said.
Quarries became an al-Shabaab target in 2015 when on December 2, 36 miners were killed at Hargasu quarry in Mandera East.
The government announced a closure of the quarrying activities along the Kenya-Somalia border further banning quarry works at night.

PLOTS
Before the December 2015 attack, quarry workers worked at night when the temperatures were cool.
“We were instructed to move inside Mandera and started our operations in quarries that are far from the border,” said Maina.
Despite the ban on the night activities and moving into safer areas, quarry workers have continued to walk in the shadow of death.
On July 7, 2015, the militants struck killing 14 quarry workers at a residential plot in Mandera town.
Mr Alex Ole Nkoyo, the then County Commissioner, asked the quarry workers and the non-Somali community in Mandera not to be crowded in a residential plot.