Trapped in the dams of death

Cycling on a treacherous path off the Ngong-Ongata Rongai road in Matasia last August, brothers Fybian Ngugi (11) and Dennis Kaminju (9) noticed an unusual water mass. They had been riding in turns, occasionally letting three other children have a go. 

Now even more fun was beckoning, it seemed, as the five gazed at Olkeri dam. Being on private property, it was barricaded with barbed wire. The boys took a detour to the dam, which was full to the brim. They scaled the fence and got ready to swim. 

Villagers say that Kaminju, under threat of drowning, called out to his elder brother for help. Dennis held on to him but they both slipped to the depth of the dam. The bodies of the two pupils at Wangige Primary School in Upper Kabete, Nairobi, were retrieved hours later. A tractor was hired to cut a trench to drain the waters. Olkeri dam is now abandoned,its waters grey with clay deposits.

Other tragic cases have been recorded all over the country, from Chinga dam in Nyeri to Rungiri in Kikuyu to the Seven Forks in Mbeere district. Yet others include Chebara dam in Marakwet, Ndakaini (Thika) and Kokotoni (Kilifi).

Suicide and murder are also common in these dams. In August 2002, travelling from Nairobi to Nyeri, Githumbi Gachuhi was in a jovial mood – occasionally chatting with other commuters in the minibus taxi as they sped homewards across familiar shopping centres and nostalgic scenery. 

He had been away too long, particularly during his stint at the National Youth Service, from the 60s to the 80s.Soon the vehicle would be arriving at his Gichiche home. But he had other plans. 

It had been a long journey – 110 kms – he asked the driver to stop near Chinga dam so he could relieve himself. The dam is about 20km north west of Othaya town and borders the idyllic Kagongo village. 

He quickly disappeared into the bushes, which were thickest on the fringes of the dam. The minibus  crew waited. And waited. Why was he taking so long?

Getting impatient, they went searching for him. But he was not in sight. His personal effects and vital documents lay at the edge of the dam. One week later, his body was retrieved from the man-made lake. 

During the same month, the body of Paul Kiragu was found floating in the dam two weeks after he was reported missing from his home at Kagicha village, four kilometres away. 

Villagers also tell of the case of newly-wed Wangechi Gachoka from Mumbuini village. One morning in 1979, she strapped her baby on her back after a domestic quarrel and allegedly jumped into the dam. Their remains were retrieved two years later. 

Mwangi Koigi did the same in 1983. He walked from Gathanji village, four kilometres away, and dived into the dam.

As Nobel laureate Albert Szent said, water is like a mistress, and man like a vassal. He cannot do without her but often she strikes and snuffs out the very life she is meant to sustain. Being life's "matter, matrix, mother and medium", water is often placid and beautiful. But this belies its lurking dangers. 

Throughout Kenya, many people have died and lots of property lost to this resource. Besides rivers overflowing their banks, as is common in Bundalang'i, irrigation or electric power dams have become death traps for many people.

There are also those dams that were built inadvertently. Originally stone quarries, water has welled up in them after the contractors abandoned them.

From Nairobi to Matasia, through Kiambu, Thika, Sagana, Nyeri, Marakwet to Mombasa, the dams of death lie, their serene waters thirsting for the next victim.

Chinga dam

It is a primary source of water for residents of Mukurweini, Nyeri, nearly 20km away, and means many things to the nearby Kagongo village. 

Surrounded by serene valleys that melt beneath tall cedar trees, the dam's banks are ideal for wedding photographs. The dam is a direct source of livelihood for villagers with a taste of mud fish. 

But this is as far as the blessings go. The list of people who have lost their lives here is long. The cases of Kiragu, Gachoka, Koigi and Gachuhi come to the mind. A long standing domestic wrangle between Gachuhi and some family members was blamed for the tragedy. 

Daniel Wangugi, who has lived in the area for 67 years, says: "While some people commit suicide here, others are killed elsewhere and dumped inside."

The frequent deaths prompted residents to urge Nyeri County Council to build a high wall around the dam, but nothing was done about it. 

Constructed during the Mau Mau war in the Fifties, Chinga dam was not built for any specific use, Wangugi says. Rather, building it was simply an exercise to punish freedom fighters and their sympathisers. 

It spans 200 metres and is 100 metres wide, its dark green waters shimmering in the sun. Multiple tributaries from the Aberdare forest converge here. It narrows them into a slow outlet and pours into the modest Gikira River. 

Olkeri dam

Unlike other death dams, it is on private property.It is situated a few metres from the Ngong-Ongata Rongai road in Matasia, and is the place where brothers Ngugi and Kaminju died. 

The owner of the farm – an elderly member of the Rev Christopher Rapasi family – said Olkeri is 30 metres long and 10 metres wide. It was once a quarry, supplying stones to construct the Ngong-Ongata Rongai road.

"When the excavation ended, the Rev Rapasi requested that the dam be retained. Rain water would wash into it, providing a reservoir for the village," she said.

Today, only two posts remind one of the barbed wire fence that surrounded the farm. "It should have been covered or drained completely," say the villagers. "When the rains come, the dam will fill again."

Rungiri dam

The smooth Nairobi-Nakuru road obscures this deadly killer a kilometre away, after the Kikuyu town junction. Rungiri was initially a quarry, a source of rocks used in constructing the highway. 

"Many people have disappeared here without trace," says Peter Kiarie, a casual labourer. The quarry was dug in the early 1990s by Italian contractors funded by the European Union, says local MP Paul Muite.

Rungiri dam is spell-binding and picturesque – about 80 metres long. It is capped with earth and partial vegetation. "Do you see that stone over there?" asks Kiarie. "A man was hewing a similar stone beside it when it broke suddenly and hurled him into the dam. He has never been seen since." That was in June last year. 

Another man, said to have fallen out with his girlfriend, threw himself into the dam. "He carried all his worldly belongings in a bag and left them at the tip of the dam, placing his national identity card on top," says Kiarie. 

The dam is 55ft deep at certain places. Villagers suspect that many people who disappear without trace may have been killed and their bodies dumped here.

Joram Mwaura's home borders Rungiri dam to the east. He is 96 and has lived through the politics of the dam. He hopes to see it filled up or put to good use. "The dam is not bad. But the water is useless in its current state. It is too dirty to drink and too dangerously exposed. We need water pumps to effectively use this resource."

On the eastern end of the dam, there is a stone wall erected perfunctorily by the contractors. 

Seven Forks

Though vital to the supply of hydro-electric power, these stations, comprising Masinga, Kamburu, Gitaru, Kindaruma, Kiambere, Mutonga and Grand Falls (the later two are yet to be developed) are a curse to the Mbeere people. 

It is a case of water everywhere but not a drop to drink. Locals have to fetch what they need from the fast-flowing River Tana. Many have been killed by crocodiles. 

Earlier this year, Ephraim Kamwitha, the chief of Mutuobare location bordering Kindaruma dam, said: "We have lost 26 children, three women and a man in the past two years at Kindaruma."

At Kiambere, Kenya's newest and largest dam – commissioned in 1988 – crocodiles reign supreme. Ten-year-old Anthony Njogu was attacked on June 16 (the Day of the African Child), as he watered his family's goats on the banks of Kiambere dam. His body was never recovered. 

Mwene Mutume, the headmaster of Ngiiri Primary School, said they lose a child every holiday season. "The worst month is August because the crocodile breeding season starts in July. The animals are hungry and irritable," he explained. The school is built on land donated by Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (Tarda), next to the dam.

All too often, residents make do with symbolic burials after victims are eaten whole. 

Chebara dam

When it was completed in 1996, the dam was a welcome sign of development to the sleepy Chebara village in Marakwet. It was to supply water to Eldoret town, 70km to the west. 

More than five people and scores of animals have drowned in the 150-metre deep dam. It is 2.1km long and has a water capacity of 6.2 million cubic metres. The latest victim is Rogers Komen (15), a Form One student at Chebara Secondary School. He drowned on February 8 this year as he drew water to wash his clothes. His school had gone without supply after the generator broke down. 

Many more lives have been lost to diseases like pneumonia and malaria. Yet the residents, some of whom were relocated as the dam was being constructed, do not have piped water. They fetch water from the dam. Last April, they threatened to break the dykes and let River Moiben flow as before. The dispute is yet to be resolved. 

Ndakaini dam 

Since its completion in 1994, it has been plagued by controversy. It is eight kilometres long, 65 metres deep and has a capacity of 70 million cubic metres, making it one of the biggest in Kenya. 

Many lives have been lost in this dam. Villagers in Makomboki and Ndakaini have no piped water and view the dam as a curse. "It is an insult to us," says Njihia Mwangi. "We should have been the first beneficiaries."

The dam supplies water to Nairobi, more than 70km away. Only a small section of its 38km circumference – which touches the Thika-Aberdare road, has been fenced. Along the road linking its northern tip to the surrounding villagers, the stone wall is too short. "Anybody can jump over easily, or be pushed in," says John Chege, 72. 

Villagers regarded the dam with wonder when it was completed, and some tried dare-devil feats. A Standard Six pupil at Ndakaini Primary School rode across the dam on a banana stalk, prompting the chief and school heads to call a meeting to warn parents of the inherent dangers.

Recently, the Nairobi Water Company told villagers whose farms are within 30 metres of the dam to quit or face eviction or prosecution. The land belongs to the company. 

The dam was constructed by Stratbag, a German company and British engineers Howard Humphrey installed the myriad breathers on the embarkment wall. These monitor the movement of subterranean water, forestalling landslides that are common in neighbouring Murang'a and the Aberdares. About 1.7 million cubic metres of soil and rock was used to put up the embarkment. 

Kokotoni

Abandoned several decades ago, quarries in Kokotoni village, Kilifi district, are a source of livelihood to hundreds of people, despite the dangers that lurk in the caves. Boulders hang precariously as men, women and children extract huge stones and break them into ballast.

Kokotoni dam is one of the many disused quarries that dot the area, famous for the Mazeras sandstone that extends hundreds of kilometres to the vast dry lands of Kwale and Kilifi districts.

Christine Wanje, a 24-year-old mother of four, joins her husband at the quarries every day. She says there have been accidents that have maimed people. "I lost my two aunts some years back. They had gone to fetch water when one of them slipped and fell into the pond. The other one tried to rescue her, but they both drowned."

Disused quarries are a source of water for the residents. Christine, too, nearly drowned but was saved just in time.

The main danger that the miners have to contend with, says quarry worker Josephine Wayua, is the occasional sand slide in the caves. "We are always alert. When we see it coming, we duck. That is why we have not had major accidents." 

The mother of 10 says work at the quarry is very demanding but there is no alternative. Proudly, she says she has educated one of her children up to Form Four through proceeds from the quarry.

"There is nothing wrong with the work here. If anybody is willing to assist us, he should do so by helping us find a market for our products. We have no other source of livelihood." 

An official of the local Mines and Geology Department, Thomas Mutwiwa, said they were concerned about the quarries, even the active ones where explosives are used.

He said his office had received many complains, adding that the law on explosives was very strict. Quarries must not subject nearby communities to health risks.

"Our department has finalised studies on the best way to rehabilitate disused mines," he said.

The National Environmental Management Authority says many safety concerns should be addressed.

"We do not know how many quarries there are in the province. But they are mainly spread across Kwale and Kilifi districts," said Coast Provincial Environmental Officer Michael Komen.

Nema is listing all the disused quarries. It aims at identifying their owners and taking legal action against them. "Once we name them, they will pay pollution fees. This is a big problem at the Coast." 

Local councils will be involved in the venture, as they generate revenue from cess charged for mining licences, he said.

Additional reporting by Muchemi Wachira in Nyeri and Mazera Ndurya in Mombasa