Magarini residents want price of sand controlled, Sacco revived

Residents of Magarini involved in sand harvesting want the trade regulated after prices plummetted following the collapse of their Sacco. 

While the Sacco operated, dealers bought sand for Sh6,750 for a 10-wheel truck. It now goes for Sh1,500. 

A trailer loaded to capacity costs buyers Sh17,000 from the cooperative but traders now pay only Sh3,000. 

The residents from Timboni where sand harvesting is the main occupation want the Sacco revived so it can resume setting favourable prices. 

Kingi Kalangulo, a resident and official of Timboni Loaders Association decried the slump in the cost of sand. 

Sand harvesting in Magarini began in 1985 but the Sacco was established in 1992.

The cooperative helped fix prices and invested in property and other assets. Wrangles about leadership changes led to the collapse of their Sacco. 

Its remaining staff have not been paid their salaries for months.

Kalangulo called on the county government of Kilifi to help address the problems of Magarini sand harvesters.

“It has been difficult to do conservation in the quarries because there are no funds allocated for conserving the environment,” he said.

He said their first Sacco, Kilifi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, collapsed in the early 2000s.

Kalangulo said there was a need to enact strict laws regulating the price of sand.

The sand business has three main players: landowners, loaders, and transporters. 

Kalangulo said the transporters benefit the most. They buy at Sh1,500 to Sh3,000 and sell the sand for Sh25,000 to Sh30,000. Those with trailers buy at Sh3,000 and sell it for Sh55,000 to Sh56,000.

“Landowners do not want to unite that’s why it has been difficult to regulate the price of sand. Some prefer to sell the land at a cheap price instead of having a well-regulated figure,” he said.

Kahindi Kalume, a resident of Mjanaheri, said the Sacco made over Sh10 million per month because they were getting approximately Sh400,000 daily.

He said the Sacco created jobs and helped fix environmental issues and issued bursaries to school children.

“Currently we have over 40 staff of the Sacco who have not been paid for months. We urge the county government to revive the Sacco so that those who have not been paid are paid,” he said.

He said the Sacco had land, a storey building whose construction stalled, two trucks, thousands of casuarina trees and eight sand quarries

Lazarus Nyiro who owns a quarry in Timboni said the price fluctuation was because of landowners' self-interest. 

Nyiro said people sell the way they want to satisfy their stomachs instead of coming together to fix prices. 

“There are very many landowners and due to that some if they do not sell sand for one or two days, they reduce the price to attract transporters,” he said.

Agunga Agunga, a sand transporter, said their vision was to empower the people of Magarini who have sold sand for a long time but still languish in poverty.

He said it is strange that the locals despite selling the sand are unable to take their children to school because what they are given is peanuts.

“We can only help the community when we give them a better price for the product. I know this will not go down well with other transporters and everybody but the truth of the matter is we are there for one another.  We must find a way in which the community will get to benefit from whatever they are selling to transporters,” he said.

Agunga said the sand is like gold to the people of Magarini because it is the only resource they have. It must help them take their children to school, eat and live a good life.

He said giving residents Sh2,400 per truck was not fair. He has decided to increase the amount to Sh6,000 per truck but that is still not enough, he said. 

“I see a situation where we would sit down with like-minded people and increase the amount from Sh6,000 to Sh12,000 because if we increase the locals will be able to benefit from that amount,” he said.