Police hunt for Kiambu building owner
Police in Kiambu are looking for a man identified as the owner of a building that collapsed in the town on Monday evening.
Kimani Kanai, a prominent businessman who is also said to own several buildings at Kiambu, Limuru and Nairobi, has not been seen since the collapse of the five-storey building on Monday afternoon.
Kiambu District Commissioner Albert Kimathi said at the site of the collapse on Thursday that police would watch over the prime plot and have officers from the Criminal Investigations Department trace the location of the man.
Also being hunted for is the contractor at the site, who has also gone missing since the incident.
“Their phones have been off since Monday and we have also been combing the area to locate him but nothing has materialised till now,” said Mr Kimathi at the spot where the building had been under construction for a year until this week.
The Nation learnt from sources in Kiambu town that Mr Kanai’s lawyers had already taken anticipatory bail for him to pre-empt his arrest when he eventually resurfaces.
The DC spoke after a ceremony to mark the end of the operation that began as a 'search and rescue’ effort before entering the recovery phase on Wednesday morning, where the aim is to remove bodies and clear the rubble.
32 people were pulled out of the building; 16 dead and 16 still alive. Three men remained admitted at Kiambu District Hospital and another is at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
One body was yet to be identified by the end of the operation on Thursday, with the DC saying the government would assist the families of those affected by paying mortuary fees, hospital bills where necessary, buying coffins and providing for transport.
He said the administration had Sh130,000 from donations and had written to the Office of the President for some more funding to assist the bereaved.
The operation officially ended at about 9.30 a.m., hours after the final pieces of masonry were dragged away at about 2 a.m. in the morning, ending three days of work that went on round-the-clock.
Brigadier Ahmed Mohammed, who led the operation headed by officers from the military with coordination from the National Disaster Operation Centre, said there were no more bodies at the site.
Only the water tank was left standing a few metres from the spot where a small monument was put up. Brigadier Mohammed led the rescue team in placing bouquets of red and yellow roses on the monument constructed from stones and pieces of metal from the building.
As the teams left the site Thursday morning, residents descended on the site, some to stare at the scene they had been kept away from and others to gather the twisted metal to be sold as scrap.
Among the dead were two women, Anasia Wanjiru, 28, and Joyce Karimi, about 18, who had lived together until last Saturday, when the latter moved out of her aunt’s single room.
Ms Karimi had moved to her aunt’s house at Kangoya, across the ridge from the site, a month ago and had lived with her and her husband, Peter Mbugua, for a month. Ms Wanjiru had secured a job for her niece, who joined her in pouring water on the concrete for curing.
Ms Karimi’s body was among those that were pulled out on Monday night but Mr Mbugua endured the long wait for his wife’s body to be finally removed from the rubble at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Hers was among the last bodies to be removed from the scene.
Politicians, among them Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and MPs from constituencies in the larger Kiambu trooped to the site on Wednesday, bringing with them donations to assist the families of those that lost their lives in the incident.
Public Health minister Beth Mugo also toured the site.
MPs were on the warpath at the site on Wednesday, saying those responsible need to be brought to book fast.
Kabete MP Lewis Nguyai, also the Local Government assistant minister, said local authorities lack the capacity to enforce the building code and the existing bylaws. He said the ministry has since the beginning of this year employed and deployed 47 planners to local authorities countrywide.
MPs Njoroge Baiya, John Mututho and Njuguna Mwaura asked the government to have the councils put their houses in order to avoid worse situations.
“If the government is unable to supervise, it should stop these developments,” said Mr Baiya.
Mr Mututho said those responsible should already be in jail for 'abetting mass murder.’
