Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja has suspended three officers following the collapse of a building in Kasarani, Nairobi on Tuesday that led to the demise of three people.
The three officers are Senior Superintendent of Building Michael Agoya, Catherine Wairimu, (enforcement officer Kasarani Sub-County) and Beatrice Kimathi (Chief Superintendent Building).
The three were given 10 days to explain why further stern disciplinary action should not be taken against them.
“If I find any officer from Nairobi county culpable, at any point, for allowing construction of non-compliant developments to continue they will go home and be charged,” he said.
The developer of the building in Kasarani is responsible for the deaths and we will work with the DCI to hold him accountable. He did not have permits from the County and has continuously ignored enforcement notices to stop construction, this kind of impunity must stop,” he added.
This comes as preliminary investigations indicate that the seven-storey building that collapsed did not have statutory approvals from the Nairobi City County and the National Construction Authority (NCA).
The developer continued constructing the building despite the construction site being closed by NCA the morning of the incident.
“The developer had in the past ignored non-compliance notices with the latest being issued on the morning of the incident, Tuesday 15th November. NCA closed the construction site the same morning marking it dangerous and hazardous, however, the owner ignored the notice and reopened the site later the same day,” Nairobi County said in a statement.
The county government further stated that it has since forwarded the names of the officers to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for further investigations.
Sakaja has since reconstituted the Urban Planning Technical Committee (UPTC) which was initiated in 2009 to succeed the Town Planning and Works Committee.
The multi-sectoral committee is constituted to facilitate the evaluation and consideration of applications for development permission submitted to the planning authority and will meet twice a month.
