Kilifi county officials put on the spot over failure to curb sand harvesting

Kilifi County Assembly Speaker Catherine Kenga and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi during Senate Mashinani in Malindi sub-county on September 21, 2026. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

The Senate Lands and Environment Committee has put the Kilifi County Government on the spot for failing to take action against mining and sand harvesting companies destroying the ecological system.

The Committee Chairperson, Mombasa Senator Mohammed Faki, raised concern that several mining and sand harvesting companies are not adhering to the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) guidelines on safe mining practices that do not lead to environmental degradation. 

The Kilifi County Geologist George Shoka, who appeared before the committee, had a difficult time explaining why he had not filed a comprehensive report on all the mining and sand harvesting companies operating in the Coastal devolved unit.

"This Senate Committee would like to know how many mining companies are in Kilifi County and what they are doing since you have presented a shallow report on the activities of the mining companies in this County," said Faki.

Shoka told the Senate Committee that the County Government of Kilifi has put several measures in place to support and regulate sand-harvesting activities at Mjana Heri area and in other parts of the County.

The measures include compliance inspections, preparation of a draft Sand Harvesting Policy, sanitation infrastructure, enforcement of quarry rehabilitation, tree planting and the managed use of suitable exhausted quarry sites as freshwater wells for water-trucking services.

Shoka told senators that the county has been undertaking inspections of sand-harvesting sites to assess County permitting, environmental approvals, worker and public safety, excavation practices, transport controls and rehabilitation.

“Where unsafe or non-compliant conditions are identified, operators are directed to stop work at hazardous areas, secure the affected areas, produce the required approvals and implement corrective measures before operations can resume,” said Shoka.

He said the county has prepared a draft Sand Harvesting Policy to streamline and organise sand-harvesting activities throughout Kilifi County which is intended to establish a consistent framework for site identification.

Shoka explained that the draft Policy is about county permitting, environmental compliance, occupational and public safety, transport and cess administration, community participation, monitoring, progressive rehabilitation and enforcement.”

However, residents of Mjana Heri took the Nema officials to task, demanding to know why they resorted to licensing individual sand harvesters as opposed to Cooperative Societies.

The residents were categorical that once Nema has issued a licence, they do not care about the welfare of the locals whose lands are being used for sand harvesting with little gain for the locals who are supposed to benefit.

Charles Katana, who has lived in the area for more than 35 years, narrated how the collapse of cooperative societies has brought misery to the locals for many years.

Katana told Senators that the area is a stark monument to environmental decay and a broken promises system that he says has plunged his community into despair, leading to one not seeing any value in what is taking place.

“When Nema used to licence cooperatives, most of us were able to feed our families, but since individuals sand harvesters started being given licences, everything has changed the individuals only care about their profits and not the locals or even about the environment,” said Katana.

He said the issue has also created a rift between the locals and the County Government, with the area residents left at the mercy of law enforcement by the administration which seems not to care about their plight.

Another resident of Mjana Heri, James Charo, was categorical that as long as Nema continues to issue licences to individual sand harvesters, the levels of poverty in Kilifi will continue to suffocate the current and future generations.

“If this issue is not addressed, then we shall continue to be poor and poorer w0hen we had Cooperatives, we used to have funds where someone could even borrow to undertake some capital investment. Right now we do not have anything,” said Charo.

Senators Joe Nyutu (Murang'a) and Beatrice Ogolla (Nominated), assured the residents that they will address the issue with Nema with a view to reverting to the old system that not only helps the locals but build a friendly ecological system.

The Senate’s intervention represents a delicate glimmer of hope since are fighting not just for a friendly ecological system, but for the restoration of a community structure that once guaranteed dignity, mutual support and a future for their child.