Violent clashes over sand harvesting in Kakamega leaves 2 dead
By Douglas Dindi, January 20, 2026A man is nursing gunshot wounds at the Kakamega County General Hospital (KCGH) following a violent clash between villagers and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) officers in the Mukulusu area of Shinyalu, in which his two colleagues were shot dead.
The fight arose over sand exploitation rights within the Kakamega forest reserve, where KFS impounded machinery from sand harvesters, but the cases hardly end up in court.
The two villagers were shot dead on Monday, January 19, 2026, night by security officers, while the third survived a gunshot and is nursing injuries at the Kakamega County General Hospital. Their bodies are lying at the KCGH mortuary.
Reports suggest that three KFS officers had taken an evening motorbike patrol along the forest rampart and impounded a tractor with a trailload of sand supposedly drawn from the Isukhu river bank within the forest.
As they led the tractor to the station, a group of villagers emerged, pelted the officers with stones, forcing them to flee. Things turned murkier when the villagers descended on the motorbike left behind by the fleeing officers, setting it ablaze.
Still feeling unfulfilled, the villagers gave chase, pursuing the KFS officers into the forest. The officers called for reinforcement from their superiors and the police.
Police intervene
Kakamega East police boss Daniel Mukumbu confirmed the death and casualties from the incident but would not say who fired the fatal shots.
“I can confirm two dead and one injured. The dead were taken to the KCGH mortuary. The injured is recuperating at the same hospital.” Mukumbu told K24 Digital on the phone.
He explained, “ We were called in to rescue the officers who were hiding from a charging lynchmob. We rescued all three from unrelenting villages. The clashes spilt into the night, and at the end, two villagers died of gunshots on the spot.
Violent clashes between KFS officers and the community neighbouring Kakamega forest reserve over logging and charcoal burning are a phenomenon, but KFS’s new fight to stop sand harvesting on riverbanks within the gazetted forest is rather unusual.
This comes months even as locals in Kakamega clashed with police over plans and government officials over a multi-billion gold project, claiming that they had been sidelined.
However, the government moved to calm the anxiety, insisting that residents will not be sidelined.