A potential bloodbath was today afternoon averted after occupants of a five-storey residential apartment in Ruiru, Kiambu were evacuated after the building developed cracks.
Kiambu governor, Kimani Wamatangi, who was present at the scene this afternoon, issued an order requiring the evacuation of the building and the nearby apartments.
“The house is too dangerous for you to stay in, so we are asking you to leave. We are going to cordon off the buiding in fourty five minutes,” he said.
The ground-plus-five-storey building houses shops on the ground floor, bedsitter studios, and one and two-bedroom apartments.
The evacuation has been implemented as a precautionary measure in light of the country’s rising number of building collapses, of which two cases have been reported in the last week in the counties of Kiambu and Nairobi.
Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja has since sent home three officers who were detained for negligence of their duties, including inadequate supervision, following the collapse of a building in Kasarani.
The three were given ten days to respond; in the event that they fail to do so, harsher disciplinary action will be taken against them.
Following the collapse of the Ruaka building on Thursday, Kiambu County Governor Kimani Wamatangi disbanded the technical committee in charge of approving building applications and inspecting building construction.
According to the governor, those found to have conspired with dishonest developers and contractors by approving and allowing the continuation of subpar buildings will face consequences. The committee members will also be the subject of an investigation.
In Mombasa, governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir issued a stop order for 162 buildings after receiving an interim report from a taskforce to assess the compliance of buildings being built in Mombasa County.
The owner, Joel Kamau Kibe, of the six-storey building that collapsed in Kasarani killing three and injuring six others is still at large.
