Scramble for ‘brown gold’ leaves Lake Victoria’s shoreline in limbo

Until a decade ago, Siungu Beach in Got Agulu was Siaya County’s white sand beach and the venue for an annual boat racing festival.

Lush scenery and Lake Victoria’s soothing breeze made the beach a perfect getaway for local and foreign tourists.

Today, residents only tell stories of how the once-vibrant beachfront, with its tourism potential, has been left barren and desolate due to uncontrolled sand harvesting.

In the nearby Nyangera Daho and Kanyibok villages, a scramble to make quick money has left the area in limbo, with deep gullies and pits resulting from nearly six months of sand harvesting.

The vast tracts of land that were once active farms and fish landing sites continue to sink with each passing day, thanks to sand mining.

Left behind are damaged roads, ugly and dangerous open pits, and gullies often filled with water during the rainy season.

Two weeks ago, a 45-year-old man allegedly died at a sand mining site in Nyangera Daho.

Francis Oduor, who will be buried today, is reported to have died after a sand mining shaft collapsed on him, killing him instantly.

Despite the dangers and environmental damage, some residents told The Standard that sand harvesting provides quick cash, unlike fishing, which no longer sustains them.

“This is a better, fast-paying business than planting food crops in an area known for erratic weather conditions and poor agricultural yields,” said Peter Omollo, a resident.

Florence Akoth, a resident, emerges from her house with a baby strapped to her back and a yellow plastic bucket, ready for work at a nearby sand harvesting site.

Akoth, who has some education and is a mother of five, relies on sand harvesting, which she does alongside other women in Kanyibok, as her source of livelihood.

She initially tried her hand at the fish trade, but declining fish stocks and poor income forced her out. Now, sand offloading is proving a better gamble for the 35-year-old mother, as she can earn up to Sh300 on a good day.

Akoth and her fellow off-loaders scoop sand without considering the adverse effects the activity has on the environment.

Another resident said sand harvesting has created employment for many youths and women who work as loaders, while some women sell food to those working at the sites.

With the increased demand for the commodity sweeping the region, the focus has shifted to harvesting sand, even within residents’ farms, leaving crops precariously suspended on shaky ground.

Mary Okello, a farmer whose land has been consumed by the lake, said she lost a quarter of an acre to sand miners who left her land barren after invading her farm under cover of darkness. “When I refused to let them mine sand on my farm, they came at night, dredged, and loaded trucks,” Okello recounted.

A murram-ring road connecting Usenge town and Uhanya beach has been damaged, with culverts collapsing due to the heavy loads from trucks.

In addition, soil erosion has become a widespread problem in the area, with vegetation decreasing by the day. Surprisingly, villagers see nothing wrong with sand harvesting.

Due to the high demand for housing in neighbouring towns such as Bondo and Siaya, which fuels the voracious demand for sand, villages in the West Yimbo ward could be staring at a disaster.

Although some residents have raised concerns about the effects of sand harvesting, they blame the authorities for enabling the trade.

Site owners told The Standard that they earn between Sh15,000 and Sh25,000 on a good day.