AGEYO’S ANGLE: Abimbo’s children of a lesser god

On my angle, I speak about two tales, about two tragedies, in two separate counties but both in one country, our country Kenya. Over the last few days the attention of the country has been focused on the one hand, on the Mwingi tragedy in which at least 33 people lost their lives after a bus that was ferrying them to a wedding plunged into a local river known as Enziu. Across on the other side of the country,  eight miners were trapped in a place called Abimbo in the county of Siaya, when the walls of their mine caved in, burying them underneath.

But it is the response or lack thereof in Abimbo that I wish to focus on. You see, immediately after the mime collapsed on December 2, local residents and fellow workers swung into action as they say, using every crude tool they could lay their hands on. They saved two miners shortly after. Five others have since been rescued, one other has sadly lost his life, while one is still unaccounted for. But what has stood out the most is the painstaking wait for any form of meaningful help from any of the two levels of government.

The rescue mission, which continues to date, has been hampered by a basic lack of specialised equipment to sort through the rubble and get to the remaining miner who is yet to be accounted for. Of course one has to raise real questions about the disaster preparedness of the county government of Siaya if such a relatively minor accident can remain unresolved a whole one week later. But even then, shouldn't this have been taken up by the national government, the military perhaps? Does anyone remember how the government deployed in full force in Likoni two years ago, when a 35-year-old mother and her four-year-old daughter plunged into the sea after their car slipped from a ferry ramp. In fact so intense was the rescue effort that divers were brought in from as far as South Africa to boost local efforts.

But not in Abimbo. Seven days and counting, the relatives of the last miner who is yet to be saved, continue to camp at the site, asking for more advanced equipment. The Siaya County government eventually sent in an excavator but it was too little to late and the rescue efforts that have so far saved six lives, have largely been mounted by the local residents using hoes and spades to rescue their fellow miners.  

The response seems to have been way better in the case of the Mwingi bus accident, which granted, was horrific, causing the deaths of 33. There we saw national and county governments rush to the site and promise change. But why, I ask, haven't we seen the same in Abimbo? Undoubtedly, the two incidents may not be identical but a life is a life and one life is just as important as 33 lives. You see, just like in Mwingi, the one death so far in Abimbo was needless because the government appears to have abdicated its role in some of these seemingly far-flung corners of the country. But the glaring difference in response between Mwingi and Abimbo, would make one wonder whether the people of Abimbo are children of a lesser god.

In Mwingi, we saw a PS, a CS, a county governor, and other leaders from Ukambani flock to site. How many of those did we see in Abimbo? So whilst we are celebrating the miracle of the six miners being alive for up to six days, it is all thanks to the local residents who devised ways to keep them alive by connecting a pipe down to the collapsed mine to provide air to those trapped.

Away from the slow response, the Abimbo scandal, because that is what it is now, also raises real questions about the safety of such mines that are now popping up in many villages around Nyanza and Western regions. In May this year, five miners died in a similar tragedy in Bushiangala in Kakamega County. Another five artisanal miners died in the same area. We cannot blame the local residents for continuing to go to the mines that are unsafe, but rather the governments, both national and county, who are supposed to ensure mines are safe before being allowed to start operations.

So our hearts must go to the people of Abimbo as they hold onto razor-thin hope that the one last miner who is yet to be pulled out will make it. But the Abimbo story will not be written without a big mark of shame on the foreheads of both the national and county governments, that have left young Kenyan lives to languish under the rubble for up to six days, with one yet to be accounted for. A crying shame!