Sand harvesters and lorry owners of Machakos county on Monday morning took to the streets causing heavy traffic jam, especially in Nairobi-Kangundo road, protesting against increased levies on the sand harvesting activities.
The protestors were heading towards the Machakos Governor's office, Dr Alfred Mutua, before being dispersed by anti-protest officers by use of teargas.
The sand dealers, especially transporters, blocked the road using lorries, accusing the Machakos county government of increasing the levies charged on their business by more than thrice.
Speaking to the local press, Machakos county sand transporters chair Mr Johnstone Kavila said that the strike is all over the county.
"The county government has raised levies from Sh21,000 to Sh70,000 for no good reason. It is a very high increase rate that we believe is just meant to stop our business which is the main source of income for some of us involved in it," said Mr Kavila.
"Paying such high levies is almost impossible for some of us especially for those who operate in small scale, it is just killing our business and source of income especially for the youth who are more affected by the menace of unemployment in Kenya," expressed Peter one of the protestors.
This came just a week after other sand dealers blocked Thika-Garissa highway passing across Yatta sub-county, protesting about the same raise of levies on sand harvesting business.
Yatta sub-county administrator, Patrick Manthi however, defended the county government claiming that the amount levied on the sand transporters is little compared to the mass destruction of roads they cause.