Thierry Niyukuri, a Burundian national aged 39 years breathed his last on March 4, 2023 at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) bed where he had been recuperating for five months after he was admitted as unconscious patient on November 15, 2022 and has left behind a hospital bill amounting to Sh2million, investigations by The Informer Media Group have established.
Niyukuri is the fourth victim to perish from the condemned six-storey building that was under construction without the requisite building approvals at Seasons area in Nairobi’s Kasarani the same the deceased was admitted at the national referral hospital.
He was among the six survivors who sustained multiple injuries working a casual labourers on the fateful day when the condemned building collapsed on them.
At the KNH casualty wing, he was initially booked as an unknown African male adult 304 under Unit No. 2227592 and later assigned patient number 1223078 admitted at Level 5 Ward 5D.
After his death on March 4, 2023, KNH management detained his body owing to the outstanding medical bill amounting to Sh1,803,875 that was exclusive of the cumulative daily mortuary fee.
“The deceased who was aged 39 years was rushed to KNH on November 15, 2022 with a history of severe head injury after a building collapsed at Kasarani area. He was admitted in Ward 5D where he passed on while undergoing treatment.” A post-mortem report in our possession dated March 31, 2023 reads in part.
The deceased was being looked after by his cousin, Niyondiko Cassen, also a Burundi national working as a casual labourer engaged in menial jobs to make ends meet.
“We had lost hope and even opted to forego claiming the body since we could not afford the money to pay and the wife to my cousin back in Burundi could not even afford bus fare to come. However, human rights defenders led by one Frank Awino of Concerned Citizens Kenya committed to take over the burden. He entered into an agreement with the hospital be paying little by little. That is when the body was released to us and buried him at Lang’ata Cemetery. We demand justice for our relative.” Cassen said.
On his part, Owino termed the Niyukuri’s death as a “classic case of miscarriage of justice and Concerned Citizens Kenya, we are going to follow this matter to the end.” Awino said.
Interestingly, our investigations established that homicide detectives in Kasarani closed the investigation file into the probe of the collapsed building while Niyukuri was still admitted at KNH under unclear circumstances.
Although some of the suspects were charged in court in connection to the collapsed building, the whereabouts of the developer identified by the name Joel Kamau Kibe remains unknown.
According to official records from Nairobi county and the National Construction Authority (NCA), the building had existing enforcement notices barring the construction.
Further, the Nairobi County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Built Environment and Urban Planning Stephen Gathuita Mwangi popularly known as S.G Mwangi confirmed the developer was using fake building plans for another building in Dagoretti in Nairobi.
According to the National Construction Authority (NCA) Executive Director Engineer Maurice Aketch, the collapsed building had been flagged three times due to non-compliance including that fateful morning when everybody was cleared from the site but a few are said to have defied the orders.
The developer and rogue Nairobi county officials drawn from Planning and Development Department are said to have colluded to issue fake technical building approval documents and minutes of approval meeting believed to be all forgeries.
Specifically, the authenticity of building approval plan dated September 27, 2021 bearing authorisation stamp of the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) City Planning Department have since been questioned and established as fake.
Further, the construction had been suspended vide order S/No. 143383 on September 20, 2022 due to non-compliance issues including forgery of the project registration certificate.
Aketch said that, on that fateful day, November 15, 2022, his team suspended further works and Kibe’s site foreman one Sylvester Oluoch was arrested and detained at Kasarani Police Station.
“The developer on record for the construction is Joel Kamau Kibe.” NCA Director said.
The Informer Media Group established that Oluoch was mysteriously released without being presented in court.
In what paints a clear gusto of impunity, during a second enforcement check by NCA at the same site on October 28, 2022 a month later, another representative of Kibe was arrested and arraigned before Makadara Law Courts over non-compliance issues where the case is actively ongoing.
After the incident, Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja interdicted three junior officers and asked them to show cause within ten days saying they are directly responsible for the incident due to negligence of their duties including inadequate supervision on the building that was under construction at Kasarani’s seasons area.
The three include the Senior Superintendent of building Michael Angoya, an enforcement officer at the Kasarani sub-county Catherine Wairimu and Chief Superintendent building Beatrice Kimathi.
“These are sacrificial lambs, the main culprits are senior officers in the Planning and Development Department.” A source from City Hall intimated.
