Lure of money sends men from Nyeri to Mandera quarries despite Shabaab terror threats

Elijah Wagura, 34, speaks to the Nation at Chaka trading centre in Nyeri on October 27, 2016. He survived two terror attacks in Mandera. Most men from Nyeri who go to work in Mandera do so due to poor pay for casual jobs back at home. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The need to make a living, communal living and declining education standards in parts of the county are some of the reasons cited by leaders and residents.
  • Mr Muthamini says more than 450 men have moved to Mandera due to handsome payments.
  • He notes that tens of his competent masons left his site to work in Mandera, leading to a slump in his business.
  • The workers die in groups during every attack since they live together depending on their areas of origin.

Forty-one people from Nyeri have been killed in Mandera in terror attacks by Al-Shabaab in the last one-and-a-half years.

So, why does Nyeri bear the brunt of such attacks in the northern region?

The need to make a living, communal living and declining education standards in parts of the county are some of the reasons cited by leaders and residents for the high number of casualties.

According to a renowned businessman in Kiganjo quarry sites in Nyeri, Benedict Warui alias Muthamini, poor pay at local sites pushes the men to North Eastern.

Mr Muthamini says more than 450 men from Chaka, Thunguma, Nyaribo, Kiganjo, Gitegi and Maragima areas of Nyeri have moved to Mandera due to handsome payments.

“In Mandera, they earn thrice what is paid locally. There are stone diggers who make Sh3,000 daily in Mandera when their colleagues in Nyeri make less than Sh1,000 per day.

“There is a lot of money in North Eastern which entices our skilled and energetic men,” Mr Muthamini says.

BUSINESS SLUMP

He notes that tens of his competent masons left his site to work in Mandera, leading to a slump in his business.

“I am bearing the consequences of the exit. For now, I do not have enough skilled people to work in the stone quarries. Most of them come from poor families and, therefore, once they get a better paying employer, they do not hesitate to join them,” he adds.

Some have lived in Mandera for close to 10 years. Those who succeed invite their friends and relatives to join them.

LIVING TOGETHER

He said that the workers die in groups during every attack since they live together depending on their areas of origin.

“Those who went to Mandera from Chaka live in one place as Chaka people while those who are from other places also live together depending on the degree of friendship.

“For instance, 150 of the workers are from Nyaribo Village. In total, the majority are from Nyeri,” Mr Muthamini said, noting that most of the tens of people killed in Mandera were people well known to him.

Another businesswoman, Francisca Kirigo, said some quarry men go to Mandera to hided after committing crimes in the villages where they come from and at the quarry sites.

She said that there are those who steal work tools before leaving for Mandera, having been assured of accommodation by friends and former colleagues.

“We have heard of members of self-help groups who have loans and disappear to Mandera, leaving the loan guarantors to pay debts they never enjoyed,” she said.

Maragima Assistant Chief George Muturi said that after completing primary and secondary school education, young men join the quarry sites for casual jobs.

FARMING DOES POORLY

“In my location, farming does not do well and, therefore, the most readily available jobs are in the quarries.

"Some start very early and, at the age of 20, they are highly skilled. It is unemployment, poverty and lack of jobs that forces them to travel to North Eastern,” the chief said.

However, Mr Muthamini felt that if the government intervenes and puts a fixed price on building stones, the situation will change.

He also urged the government to contract the quarry businessmen in the supply of building stones for public projects.

“For now, we do not benefit from CDF projects because the contractors buy stones at low prices to maximise their own profits, leaving us vulnerable and the loss trickles down to the miners. The government should intervene to forestall the mass movement and have our young men back,” Muthamini said.

Paul Maina, a father of two from Maragima village, has vowed never to return to Mandera after surviving an attack at Soko Mbuzi in 2015 that killed 14 people and injured 11 others.

Maina, 40, was in a neighbouring village during the attack, alongside other workers, and could hear the gunshots.

He had lived in Mandera since 2010 but there were no terror incidents targeting non-Muslims and non-locals.

“I left Mandera in July 2015 and I will never go back. I would rather struggle here at home than risk my life. The aim of the attacks is to drive away non-locals,” Maina said.

He, however, laments that while in North Eastern he had started a poultry farming project to generate extra income. The project stalled after his return due to lack of money.

“The pay is little in local quarries. My project suffered a loss after I left North Eastern,” he said.