False promise for Mandera victims, 1 year later

Families around Chaka Township in Nyeri County whose relatives were brutally murdered in the Mandera Quarry attack are still to be compensated a year after the government promised to do so.

According to the families visited by Citizen TV, the promises of jobs and bursaries for children of the victims have not been fulfilled.

The families, mostly widows, are now calling on the government to consider them saying it was a big blow to them as their husbands were the only breadwinners.

A resident, Nderitu Ndungu, said the government ought to find an alternative for the quarry workers from Chaka since the quarries in Mandera were closed.

Young men from Chaka chose the route to Mandera since the work there highly rewards as they earn Sh. 47 per foot, as compared to Nyeri where one gets Sh. 6 per foot of building stones.

In November 2014, 36 people were massacred in an attack at a quarry in Koromey area, Mandera County, a few kilometers from the Kenya – Somalia border. The attack was the second in a fortnight. On November 22^nd 2014, 28 passengers aboard a Nairobi bound bus were killed by Alshabab militiamen, an attack that kicked off an exodus by non-local professionals and casual labourers from the North Eastern region.

In July 2015, an unknown number of Al Shabaab militants sneaked into the country from Somalia and raided Soko Mbuzi area inhabited by non-locals killing 14 people and leaving 11 injured. It was reported the attackers were aided by local collaborators

According to the Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaisery The militants had targeted 150 people who live in the estate but were repulsed by Kenya Defence Forces and police on the ground, with 136 residents being rescued and evacuated to safety.

Mandera County Commissioner Alex Nkoyo said most of the residents were sleeping in tents outside their houses due to the hot weather prompting the militants to shoot at the villagers indiscriminately leading to the deaths.

The dormancy of the quarries has adversely affected the construction industry in Mandera County that has been striving to get to the path of development after decades of neglect and marginalization. With it, tens of families have been left without a source of livelihood mostly in Nyeri County.