Concerns have been raised over the safety of farmers-cum-artisanal miners in Gem, Siaya County where local residents have been spotted tunneling their plots with crude weapons and bare hands in search of gold.
This follows rumours of presence of the precious commodity in the area, despite a geological survey having not been carried out but residents eager to earn easy cash have resorted to stripping their farmland, exposing themselves to life-threatening hazards and risk of food insecurity.
“I was upcountry over the weekend and I was surprised at the sudden gold rush by Siaya residents, particularly in places like Gem. People are tunneling their lands with bare hands in search of wealth. I hope they all hit the jackpot. Wanaharibu mashamba lakini (they are destroying the land),” Tony Ojee shared online.
This illustrates how parcels of land that once supported crop farming are being reduced into informal mining sites, even as conservationists warn that if unregulated, the activity could accelerate land degradation and undermine future recovery of the region’s agricultural productivity.
Already, the open excavations across the villages are posing sanitation risks and could create breeding ground for Mosquitoes, resulting in Malaria outbreak.
This year alone, over 20 miners have died across Siaya county, after collapse of the unstable shafts, including the Rarieda’s Lumba gold mine collapse in March that killed five women and left another missing.
Artisanal and Small-Scale mining (ASM) say informal mining surges whenever the price of gold rises or when news of discovery are circulated locally.
Currently, only one company- Shanta Gold International Company, has been licensed to undertake large scale extraction of gold in the Ramula-Mwibona open pit mining project which covers 175 hectares within Siaya-Vihiga border.
The project that is set to kick off in June 2026 faces strong opposition from the residents who fear it would disrupt their livelihoods.
In a county where poverty and unemployment rates stand at 25 percent and 4.1 percent respectively, the lure of fast earnings could be irresistible, especially in hotspot areas.
Governor James Orengo recently raised concern over safety of the existing illegal mines, saying unless strict safety measures are introduced, more tragedies could be reported in the future.
A last month’s joint operation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Mining Police Unit at the illegal mining sites saw the arrest of 11 suspects, nine of them foreigners.
Majority of the miners lack protective equipment and their reckless abandon is seen as many as a recipe for disaster.
Early November, the county Mines Inspector Morris Tikami complained that despite educating the miners on the need for self-regulation, many had blatantly refused to comply.
“We have already educated them on the risks involved and how to stay safe but defiance is costing us lives,” he shared.
Calls for intensified public education on the dangers of informal tunnelling, registration of artisanal sites, provision of safety training, and rolling out programmes to grow agricultural incomes have also been made.
