The standoff between a private developer and sand sellers over ownership of a 50-acre piece of land that has over the years been used as a public cemetery at Gatitu area of Thika Town in Kiambu County has escalated after the former began fencing off the prime land.

Although the private developer has laid claim to the prime land touching the busy Thika-Garissa Highway, sand sellers who have been operating from a section of it have opposed the move to have it fenced off saying they have no other workstation.

The undisclosed developer is said to have obtained a court order to eject the sand sellers from the premise whom he accuses of illegally, unlawfully and unrightfully entering and depositing sand on ‘his’ parcel of land, a yard they use for selling the sand to third parties.

The orders restraining the sand sellers from operating at the parcel were effected Wednesday, February 7 when the developer moved in with an excavator and began digging a terrace as an initial process of having the land fenced.

But the sand sellers led by their chairperson Maina Mundia who have been camping at the site for over 25 years now stated that they started as grave diggers and sellers of sand and concrete to mourners wishing to concrete the graves of their loved ones.

With time, Mundia said the over 300 sand sellers began to assemble building materials which they have been selling to builders.

Peter Mwangi Kinuthia, a sand seller said he appeared at the workstation normally only to be met with rude shock after he found a contingent of heavily armed police officers implementing the ejection order.

While vowing to remain put unless the land row is fully resolved and the real owner of the land made publicly known, Mwangi insisted that the parcel belongs to the public and hundreds of deceased persons have been buried in it.

‘Please intervene’

Devastated residents regretted that besides the public being left with no cemetery to bury their loved ones, they only know the place as their workstation and the ongoing eviction will only leave them with nowhere to operate from.

Esther Wangui, a sand seller who has buried her father and her nephew at the site, regretted that should the eviction order be fully implemented, she has nowhere else to bury her loved ones.

The sand sellers pleaded with local leaders including governor Kimani Wamatangi and Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a to intervene and resolve the standoff.