Kitui activist and theologian Musili Kauta has launched a blistering attack on local journalists and bloggers, accusing them of colluding with sand cartels by accepting petty bribes to stay silent on the illegal plunder of rivers across the county.
Speaking to Channel 15 News, Kauta said sections of the Kitui media had betrayed the community by abandoning their watchdog role and normalizing the destruction of the environment. He singled out Mwingi Central, where illegal sand harvesting has left rivers drying up and worsened the region’s perennial water problems.
“Instead of defending the people, many local journalists have chosen brown envelopes over patriotism. Their silence is aiding environmental genocide in Kitui,” Kauta charged.
A Law on Paper, Chaos on the Ground
In 2023, Governor Julius Malombe assented to the Kitui County River Basins Sand Utilization and Conservation Act, which introduced licensing requirements and imposed stiff penalties — including fines of up to KSh 500,000 and three years in jail — for unlicensed sand harvesting. The law also established a County Sand Committee to regulate the sector.
But residents say enforcement remains weak, with truckloads of sand leaving Kitui at night for markets in Nairobi and Thika. For many, the situation underscores the gap between legislation and reality.
Experts warn that unregulated sand harvesting is fueling riverbed deepening, collapsing banks, habitat loss, declining groundwater recharge, and worsening floods. In parts of Mwingi, entire river channels have been reduced to dry beds, threatening both ecosystems and livelihoods.
Media Under Fire
Kauta insists the crisis persists because the local press has been compromised. He accused journalists of taking token payments from cartels to bury hard-hitting stories, leaving residents voiceless.
“A true journalist must be the voice of the people. Right now, Kitui’s media is acting as the voice of sand barons,” he said.
Kauta is now calling for the strict enforcement of the county law and for journalists to “reclaim their integrity” by exposing rather than protecting cartels.
