Families of miners who died in tunnel explosion demand justice
By Wycliffe Kipsang, August 7, 2023
Families who lost three of their kin in the January 23 underground tunnel explosion at the Karebe gold mines in Nandi county are still crying for justice for their loved ones.
According to the aggrieved families, they had expected suspects in the incident, where foul play from a rival mining company was alleged, would be charged with murder.
A rival gold mining company is suspected of having orchestrated the attack that took place in the underground tunnels where the Karebe miners were extracting gold, in an apparent conflict by rival companies over mining territories.
A section of residents had later alleged that senior officials in the Kenya Kwanza government, who have vested interests in mining activities in the area, were protecting the illegal miners and frustrated the case.
The 10 suspects in the matter have not been charged in court, even after the conclusion of investigations.
Demand justice
Widows of the deceased three miners now hope the person who will be appointed to the position of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will take up the matter conclusively.
Sheila Agui and Caroline Rotich, wives of the deceased Julius Agui and Geoffrey Rotich claimed the suspects were freely moving in the village.
“It is very sad to see people suspected to be behind our husbands’ death still enjoying freedom as we suffer. We demand for justice,” said Rotich.
On April 13, 2023, a Kapsabet court dismissed a case where ten suspects were implicated after the DPP failed to provide evidence.
Kapsabet Chief Magistrate Samuel Mokua had indicated that the courts did not have the powers to force the DPP to continue with the case, and proceeded to free the suspects, but families, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), and human rights activists protested against his decision.
Tension had been brewing between Karebe and the rival Nandi/Chemase Company over gold mining rights on the Nandi escarpment since 2019 over a parcel of land for mining gold.
The three miners died after a tunnel they were extracting gold from caved in on them with allegations emerging that miners from a rival company set up explosives and detonated them when more than 40 mining workers were extracting gold in a tunnel at the location identified as ‘Level 3’.