The Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has suspended three officers following the collapse of a building in Kasarani, Nairobi that led to the deaths of three people.
The governor said the three officers have 10 days to show cause why further stern disciplinary action should not be taken against them.
The three are Senior Superintendent of Building Michael Agoya, Catherine Wairimu (enforcement officer in Kasarani Sub-County) and Beatrice Kimathi who is the Chief Superintendent Building.
“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. 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,” Mr Sakaja said on Friday in a statement.
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).
On the morning of the incident
It has also emerged that the developer had ignored noncompliance notices earlier, the latest being issued on the morning of the incident, Tuesday, November 15.
The developer continued constructing the building despite the construction site being closed by NCA on the same morning the tragedy happened.
Also, Governor Sakaja has reconstituted the Urban Planning Technical Committee (UPTC) which was initiated in 2009 to succeed the Town Planning and Works Committee.
In a similar incident, a six-storey building under construction collapsed on Thursday in Ruaka, Kiambu County, claiming two lives.
The Ruaka incident was the second in the Nairobi Metropolitan area in a week.
The building in Ruaka collapsed over a neighbouring residential home whose occupants were sleeping at the time of the incident. BY DAILY NATION