Four Kiambu County officials detained for 10 days over collapsed Ruaka building

Four Kiambu County officials will remain in police custody for 10 days to allow for further investigation into the puzzle behind the collapsed building in Ruaka that killed two people.

Stephen Bundi Njiraini, John Murimi Mwobe, Pauline Njeri Wanjiku and Geoffrey Mathini Kamau appeared before Kiambu Principal Magistrate Manuella Kinyanjui on Tuesday.

They’re expected to be charged with manslaughter after they allegedly failed to act in ensuring that the owners of the building that crumbled complied with all the approved construction requirements.

The owner of the building, Janifer Wangari Kamau, who was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) while planning to flee from the country, was however not presented in court.

The case is up for mention on December 8, 2022. This, however, is just one among the many such cases in court due to a surge in collapsed buildings across the country.

A 7-storey building in Kasarani collapsed a week ago causing the deaths of at least 3 people.

Earlier, an 8-storey building collapsed in Tassia estate, Embakasi. In September 2022, another 6-storey building collapsed in Kirigiti area claiming 5 lives.

In August 2022, two people died after a 2-storey building collapsed in Mwiki Estate in Kasarani, Nairobi County. In May 2022, a building collapsed in Kihunguro area of Ruiru, Kiambu County.

In March 2022, a 5-storey building under construction caved in, in Kinoo.

The National Construction Authority CEO Eng. Martin Akech said the causes of buildings collapsing range from poor workmanship to non-compliance with building standards, which include inadequate structural design, use of sub-standard materials as well as inadequate maintenance.

The authority has it that the earliest documented case of building collapse in Kenya was in 1990, when the collapse of a multi-storey building in Dagoretti killed one person and injured others.

Over 90 other cases have been reported since, with the worst case reported on January 4, 2015. A 7-storey residential building in Huruma estate, Nairobi, collapsed and claimed the lives of 52 people, injuring 32 others.

Then President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered an audit of all the country's buildings to see if they were up to code.

In an audit carried out in 2018 by the National Building Inspectorate covering 14, 895 buildings, 723 were deemed very dangerous, 10,791 were categorised as unsafe, 1,217 were listed as fair and 2,194 approved as safe.

It is estimated that over 200 people have lost their lives since the first building collapsed in 1990, with thousands injured.

The economy has equally lost over Ksh.2.4 billion worth of investments. The journey to hold the owners accountable has however been fruitless with only one per cent of the cases making it to court.

Eng. Aketch recommends a multi-pronged approach to securing convictions and inculcating a culture of good construction practice.