Calm has returned to Mai Mahiu after two days of violence pitting the police and sand harvesters.
The violence claimed the lives of lorry loaders Joseph Kariuki and Peter Mwangi.
They were shot in the chest and armpit respectively during the chaos pitting the police and close to 1,000 sand loaders at the expansive Kedong ranch.
The loaders engaged the police in running battles along major roads leading to and from Mai Mahiu town in protest against new sand charges by the Kedong management.
A police source said post-mortem examinations will establish the cause of the death of Kariuki and Mwangi.
“The families claim that the two men were shot by police during the demonstrations but we want to conduct post-mortems to establish the cause of their death,” the officer, who did not want to be named, said.
Naivasha assistant county commissioner Mutua Kisilu said on Thursday that they were engaging all the parties to end the impasse.
“At the moment no sand is being harvested from Kedong ranch but we are keen to engage all the parties so that this trade that employs hundreds can resume,” he said.
Community leader John Kihiko was optimistic that a lasting solution would be found as sand business was the mainstay of hundreds of residents.
“Sand is the cash crop of this town and we are hoping that the current differences which have left two people dead will be resolved,” he said.
