Kevin Akala wakes up every morning at his home in Shikhombelo village, Kakamega County and heads to the Rosterman area in Lurambi where he descends into a mine pit to try his luck for the day.

Despite his daily toil, Akala, a married father of two, leads a life of penury.

His family cannot afford three-square meals a day even as he risks his life every day foraging for gold deposits in the bowels of the earth.

The 27-year-old is among hundreds of young people who have nothing to show for even as they turn gold brokers and commercial miners into millionaires.

“I earn between Sh300 and Sh500 based on the amount of gold realised by my employer. Sometimes we return home empty-handed with claims that he never got anything on that day,” he explains.

Akala has escaped death twice after the soil caved into a mine pit and buried his fellow miners.

“The first was in 2019 when the mine caved in and killed four of my colleagues. I was lucky because I had just completed my shift and had made my way out,” Akala told People Daily.

“The second was last year. This time, I had arrived at the mining site late which enraged my boss who ordered me to go back home,” he added.

Despite the close shave with death, Akala says he is still trying his luck in the belief that lady luck will one day smile on him.

The number of youth who are dying in accidents at gold mines in Kakamega County is alarming with local leaders calling for proper mechanisms to protect lives.

The latest incident occurred last Thursday when a mine caved in and buried 12 people at Sigalagala area in Shinyalu Constituency. Eight of them were rescued.

Ikolomani MP Benard Shinali says he is working on legislation aimed at protecting the miners from exploitation by their employers and brokers.

“I am putting in place several measures that will streamline this industry. Our people are being exploited left, right and centre due to the lack of a law that adequately addresses their needs,” he said.

Shinali has been the force behind the Ikolomani Gold Refinery which is being put up at Iguhu area in his constituency.

“The refinery is meant to enable the residents of Kakamega who are in the gold mining business to selling it directly to the refinery. This will end exploitation by brokers who come from Kisumu, Nairobi and other parts of the country and from outside the country,” he said yesterday.

Shinali, and his Shinyalu counterpart Fred Ikana, lamented about the high poverty rates in their constituencies despite being endowed with massive deposits of gold in the Lirhanda Corridor.

“Poor families have leased their land to exploitative gold barons who in turn make away with millions that are invested elsewhere. We will end this state of affairs,” vowed Ikana.

Patrick Amulavu, another miner, said families of victims of mining accidents are never compensated if they die in the mine pits because they are verbally enlisted as casuals with no written contracts.

UNDP initiative

There have been reports of infighting between the commercial miners leading to cases of sabotage that cause accidents and deaths.

“We have miners from other countries, especially Tanzania, who are fighting for the gold with those from Kenya. There was a case where a rival group disconnected oxygen to the mine pit leading to deaths of the miners underground,” said Origen Maviala who owns several mining sites at Lirhembe village in Ikolomani.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been empowering small-scale miners by helping them form groups and giving them mining equipment as a way of ending or reducing the exploitation of established miners.