Transcript GITONGA Presentation THESIS PROPOSAL

SAND HARVESTING: THE ADEQUACY OF THE NATIONAL AND
COUNTY LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN DETERMINING
COMPLIANCE IN MACHAKOS COUNTY
ERASTUS K GITONGA
A60/68678/2013
INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW
The law in Kenya is wanting as far as regulation
of sand harvesting is concerned. The Mining
Act, 1940 and the Environmental Management
and Coordination Act (EMCA) of 1999 did not
perceive sand harvesting as a problem that
needs legislation.
 The grim situation has not been improved by
devolution as yet as county legislation is yet to
provide a solution to the menace.
 The closest effort is the Sand Harvesting
Guidelines published by NEMA in 2008.
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In Machakos county, the effects of unregulated sand
harvesting are very manifest (J ANGALUKA, 2011).In
essence, lower eastern Kenya is especially affected
(NEMA, 2008).
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Sand harvesting has continually led to destruction of
the environment, change of river flow, conflicts over
resources use, water scarcity in the region, oil spills in
the rivers, high levels of school drop outs, high rates of
alcoholism and drug abuse, high rates of unwanted
pregnancies, road damages and high rates of HIV
infections, among other many ills.(Kitunga and
Murungi, 2013).
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Sand harvesting is by no doubt an activity that is
of economic benefit to a cross section of
Kenyans. Sand is a building material and
therefore a necessity for the proliferating
construction projects in the country.
 Unsustainable scooping of this resource has
caused soil erosion and deep gullies. The
activities have also led to loss of water for
livestock and domestic use (NEMA,2008).
 Sand harvesting should actually be subjected to
environmental impact assessments so that its
impact can be controlled.(NEMA, 2008).

CONTD..
Law seeks to enforce compliance and without a
law, then compliance is likely to elude us. Most
sand harvesters are well aware of this
predicament and have taken the activity of sand
harvesting as private and un regulated. Its free
for all.
 Gangs and criminal groupings have developed
among the riverine communities in not only
Machakos but nationally.
 There is a gap in literature on the adequacy of
laws regulating sand harvesting.

METHODOLOGY
Different methods will be used and the
obtained information triangulated.
 It is sought to employ questionnaires, semi
structured interviews, document review and
perhaps sensitive issues reflections.
 Respondents will include the County
government of Machakos, National
Environment Management Authority, local
administration, affected villagers and the
organized sand harvesting groups.

CONTD..
Sample size will be arrived at on the basis of
simple random and spatial sampling technique.
 A stakeholder workshop will be necessary for
purposes of questionnaire distribution in data
collection.
 I plan to use MS Excel spreadsheets Ms word tools
and Statistical package for social scientists (SPSS)
version 20 to analyze data collected.
 Hard copies of the questionnaire and other
documents will be safely stored in a file while the
results will be electronically stored.
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ACTIVITY PLAN
Activities
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Designing questionnaires and semi-structured questions
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Pre testing questionnaires in the County
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Field visits to the County to collect data
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Data analysis and interpretation
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Report writing and documentation
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Thesis submission and examination
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BUDGET
My budget proposal is as follows
a)Towards stationary and printing- Ksh 80,000
b) Towards travelling expenses - Ksh 120,000
c) 1 Stakeholder workshop
- Ksh 50,000
d) Assistant allowance
- Ksh 40,000
e) Miscellaneous
- Ksh 20,000
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Total
Ksh. 310,000/.
THANK YOU