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70-year-old man killed over sand harvesting in Kitui
12th February, 2026 04:11 PM
What began as a peaceful protest by Mwingi villagers in Kitui County against illegal sand mining that led to environmental degradation, unfortunately, turned bloody on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, with one life lost and several other people left nursing injuries inflicted by sharp and blunt objects used by the assailants.
The deceased, a 70-year-old Mzee Mwendwa Maluki, a resident of Kaunguni Village, Waita Ward, succumbed at the Mwingi Level Four Hospital from multiple injuries inflicted during a violent attack that occurred at the seasonal River Mwania in Waita location, Mwingi Central.
Another brutally attacked villager was briefly examined at the hospital but moved to the Kenyatta National Hospital for specialised treatment, while ten other villagers were treated and discharged.
On the fateful Tuesday morning, February 10, 2026, a group of about 100 residents, comprising the deceased and young and old men and women, had mobilised and taken to the streets, heading towards the riverbank to register their disapproval of the uncontrolled and illegal scooping of sand from the barren river.
However, unexpectedly, a lorry full of men, armed with pangas, machetes, rungus, catapults and other cruel weapons, descended on them, clobbering, pushing, and kicking them indiscriminately and scattering them within the hurried ambush.
The attackers who compromised some people known locally, backed by foreigners, fled immediately with the lorry as the scene was engulfed with confusion and melee for safety.
The poor Mzee Maluki could hardly escape the dragnet of the merciless hirees who cornered him, floored him down and inflicted deep cuts, leaving him bleeding profusely.
Most of the villagers who narrated their ordeal at the hands of the assailants said the attack appeared thoroughly planned and executed by an organised cartel of people who connive with police and national and county government officials to enrich themselves at the expense of the majority of the local community.
“When these cartels descend on the rivers to scoop sand and enrich themselves, they compromise a few community leaders and government officials, both national and county. They tell us they have created jobs for the youth who load trucks. They lie to the gullible young men that they are “doing business together”, but in reality they are robbing us and future generations of our livelihood,” one villager said.
With news of the attack, county senator Enoch Wambua visited the panicked village to share his condolences to the bereaved family and extend his message of quick recovery to the injured.
Without mincing words, Wambua, who is also the Deputy Senate Minority Whip, demanded that the security agencies in both the Nguni and Mwingi Central divisions strictly enforce a total ban on sand harvesting in all river basins along the Mwingi, Garissa and Tana River border.
With fury, Wambua accused the law enforcers of sheer complicity by overseeing the illegal sand activities being carried out, whereas a court order stopping the business was still in force.
“This is a blatant disregard in open defiance by government authorities so as to advance ‘dirty’ interests of sand cartels. But law or no law, it is evident to all of us that our river beds are being irreparably destroyed. True be told, I will not watch this menace continue unabated. Period,” the senator said.
During a public interaction at Kaunguni shopping centre, residents demanded that a provincial administrator be punished for conspiring with the oppressors involved in sand harvesting.
In the recent past, the senator has said he is aware of the inherent dangers that he is exposing himself and his family to from the sand cartels.
“But as a leader, I refuse to hide behind self-preservation and personal comfort as an entire county is suffocated under the merciless grip of racketeers out to snuff out life from all of us. You will soon see them and their agents attacking me on social media and even physically for daring to stand in their way of bloody money. Bring it on,” he said.
Wambua said he was ready to pay the ultimate price to secure the county, adding that he does not need to name the racketeers now because they will soon come out fighting.
“You will know them. But I want to give them and their agents this blessed assurance; for as long as I have life in my body, I will firmly and fearlessly show up for my county and for the welfare of our environment for the present and for future generations,” the senator said.
