Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja has raised concerns following increased cases of sand harvesting in the County.

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In the past two weeks, he said sand has been harvested and transported at midnight despite issuing executive orders.

He decried that local leaders have been going back to the local residents to encourage them to continue with the "vice which has made it difficulty for the law to be enforced.

"The ban was put in place for the county government to come up with measures to improve revenue. "We need support from all our leaders in order to realize our revenue targets. We are doing very badly. Without collecting revenue, we cannot do much as far as development is concerned," he said.

He noted that natural resources in the County must be safeguarded in order to benefit the county residents and generate the required revenue.

"We should operationalize the relevant county laws by making regulations in a bid to improve efficiency."

In a communication on Wednesday, Samboja said the county government should not over rely on the allocation from the national government.

"If we don’t address this issue now we will lag behind as a County. Let us shun the habit of sugarcoating things and instead deal with problems head on," said the governor.

His ban on sand harvesting follows similar ban imposed by Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu in the County.