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The standoff between a private developer and sand dealers over ownership of a 50-acre piece of land that has over the years been used as a public cemetery in the Gatitu area of Thika town 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 premises 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 parcel number LR/ Thika Municipality Block 9/1109 were effected yesterday when the developer moved in with an excavator and began digging a terrace as an initial process of having the land fenced. “Thika OCS be and is hereby directed to give police escort to the auctioneer herein to enable him to execute a decree of this court in ELC No. 69 of 2020, Thika, to evict the defendants from parcel number LR No. Thika Municipality Block 9/1109,” the eviction order read in sections.

But sand sellers led by their chair Maina Mundia say they started as gravediggers 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.