Agency wants city officials charged over flat’s collapse

Rescue operation led by the Kenya Defence Forces officers and National Youth Service is done at the scene of a seven-storey flat that collapsed on January 5, 2015 in Huruma, Nairobi. The ombudsman wants senior officials in City Hall’s Housing Development Department prosecuted over the collapse of the building which resulted in the death five people. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |

What you need to know:

  • The ombudsman wants senior officials in City Hall’s Housing Development Department prosecuted over the collapse of a building in Huruma, Nairobi, early this year, resulting in the death five people.
  • The commission said the collapse of the seven-storey building could have been avoided if the Housing Development Department in Dandora and the directorate of planning, compliance and enforcement had demolished it on time after establishing it was unsafe.
  • The Ombudsman report further says on September 13, 2013, City Hall officers served the building caretaker with a four-day notice of compliance with the public health law and county bylaws.

The ombudsman wants senior officials in City Hall’s Housing Development Department prosecuted over the collapse of a building in Huruma, Nairobi, early this year, resulting in the death five people.

In its report, released yesterday following investigations into the tragic incident and others of a similar nature, the Commission on Administrative Justice said the Nairobi City County Government should be held liable.

The commission said the collapse of the seven-storey building could have been avoided if the Housing Development Department in Dandora and the directorate of planning, compliance and enforcement had demolished it on time after establishing it was unsafe.

Officials in the department had been suspended by Governor Evans Kidero’s administration for abetting irregular construction when the building collapsed.

They were accused of failing to demolish the residential building for four years while knowing very well it was irregularly erected.

NON-COMPLAINCE

“The commission’s investigators recovered a copy of an enforcement notice dated January 31, 2012, which had been served on the developer for non-compliance with the Physical Planning Act and Building Bylaws,” says the report released by commission chairman Otiende Amollo.

The report further says on September 13, 2013, City Hall officers served the building caretaker with a four-day notice of compliance with the public health law and county bylaws.

However, the notice had not been enforced up to the time the building collapsed, according to the report.

“The matter was taken to the City Court, but the developer and the caretaker failed to turn up, and warrant of arrests were issued against them,” says the report.

INSPECTORATE UNIT

After the collapse of the building, several others fell in different parts of the city.

This prompted the Government to establish a Building Inspectorate Unit within the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

The unit, together with the National Construction Authority, a Government agency, were charged with conducting an audit of all buildings in the city and other parts of the country to establish whether they were built in compliance with the construction regulations.

The ombudsman has now asked the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to make an inquiry into the conduct of Mr Justus Kathenge, director, Compliance and Enforcement, at City Hall; and that of Mr Ndungu Ngure, a former assistant director, technical section, and have them prosecuted for negligence of duty.