Sand transporters operating in Kajiado county have been given 14 days to obtain valid sand transport permits or face multi-agency enforcement action including vehicle impoundment and prosecution, according to a notice issued by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) on March 11, 2026.
The directive, signed by Mark Angwenyi, county director of environment for Kajiado county, orders all sand transporters to apply for permits through the NEMA e-citizen portal at https://nema.ecitizen.go.ke/.
Under the notice, no person shall transport sand without a valid sand transport permit issued by NEMA, and every vehicle transporting sand must carry a permit corresponding to the lawful source of the sand, the authority said.
Drivers are additionally required to retain physical custody of the valid permit while sand is in transit and to produce the permit on demand by an authorized enforcement officer, according to the notice.
The directive further requires that all sand transported must originate from a legally authorized harvesting site, supported by either a valid Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) licence or a lawful authorization issued under applicable water or environmental laws.
Transporters are responsible for verifying the legality of the sand source before undertaking transportation, NEMA said.
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Upon expiry of the 14-day compliance window, NEMA said multi-agency enforcement operations will commence, non-compliant vehicles will be impounded and prosecution proceedings will be initiated without further notice.
Penalties under Section 144 of the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act (EMCA) include imprisonment of between one and four years, fines of between two million and four million Kenyan shillings, or both. Vehicles used in the commission of an environmental offence may also be detained and subjected to court-directed forfeiture.
Enforcement will be carried out through coordinated inspections, roadblocks and compliance audits by authorized environmental inspectors and other relevant enforcement agencies, according to the directive.
The notice was issued pursuant to the provisions of the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act (EMCA, 1999) and the Environmental Management and Co-ordination (Sand Harvesting) Regulations, 2024.
By Benedict Aoya
