Fresh Details Implicate Kiambu County in Kinoo Collapsed Building

Fresh Details Implicate Kiambu County in Kinoo Collapsed Building

Fresh details have emerged, implicating Kiambu County in the building that collapsed in Kinoo on Friday, September 3.

According to the report by the National Construction Authority (NCA), they did not give approval to the construction of the building.

However, according to the National Disaster Management Unit Director Dr. Duncan Ochieng, the building was approved by the Kiambu county government.

Apparently, the owner of the building capitalised on the approval by the county government to extends its construction from the five-storey that was initially approved.

The revelation came after a multi-sectoral team, including the National Disaster Management Unit went at the scene and established the project was not approved by the National Construction Authority.

According to the construction experts, who visited the scene, the building collapsed because it did not have a proper foundation and had already shown signs of weakness.

“From the information we have, there was no site engineer, site supervisor so you wonder how the work was going on. We have to ask ourselves what are these scenarios communicating to us,” NCA stated.

Those living in adjacent buildings have been instructed to vacate the area, even as civil engineers plan how the building debris will be safely brought down.

The incident comes barely four days after another five-storey building collapsed in the Kihara area near Gachie in Kiambu County,  killing three people.

Kiambu Senator, Kimani Wamatangi condemned both incidents and called on the county government to prioritise protecting people’s lives to avoid the occurrence of similar incidences.

“The county government should follow through and ensure any prescribed course of action, including demolition, is enforced against condemned buildings. I also urge the building owners to ensure they follow, to the letter, the highest standards in building and construction procedures not only for the safety of the people but also to safeguard their hard-earned investments,” Wamatangi wrote on his social media page on Friday, September 3.

He added, “I call upon the County Government to put in place all the necessary precautionary measures to protect the lives of our people from dangerous and insecure buildings. We cannot afford any further such disasters!”