Tenants defy President Uhuru’s order to vacate faulty buildings in Nairobi

Rental houses in Huruma, Nairobi in a picture taken on May 02,2016 after a house collapsed last week Friday killing over 20 people and injuring others. Usage of poor building materials has been blamed for such tragedies in the city. (Photo: Denish Ochieng/ Standard)

It is business as usual three days after the President ordered tenants of condemned buildings in Huruma to vacate.

A man living with his family in one of the houses said they have neither received notice from their landlord to vacate the premises nor notice of how to access their deposit.

"I do manual work to feed my family. The Government now wants us to move from here, which means I have to look for deposit and rent for another house. I will not be refunded what I paid here for deposit," he said.

He said the only reasonable thing was for the Government to relocate them until they can afford to move. A spot check by The Standard showed that a number of those condemned buildings did not adhere to planning regulations.

The buildings go as high as eight floors without an elevator, while some are without supporting pillars.

Building standards and regulations require a developer to ensure a building takes into consideration the distance of the stairs (should not be too steep), fire safety and a lift in cases where they are more than five floors among others.

In one building in the area famously referred to as "Ya Shosho" tenants are forced to navigate along a dark narrow corridor.

This writer had to use a phone torch to locate the staircase of the six-storey building. Like the corridor, the stairs are also covered in darkness and are so narrow they can barely fit an average-sized person. On the fifth floor, a woman sat making beads unaware of what eminent danger the building posed for her family.

chipped wall

She said the building was built in the 1990's and was clearly very strong - even with evidence of chipped wall and floors.

"Those are the ones that should be demolished. They take less than six months to be completed and people move in. In fact, most belong to the man whose building also collapsed," she said pointing to a row of newly constructed flats.

Her neighbour said she had lived there comfortably for years and was convinced that the building was solid. Buildings next to "Ya Shosho" go either up to seventh or eighth floor. They lack mechanical transportation except the narrow dark stairs leading to congested apartments. It is clear that even at the advent of fire tenants would have no escape route.

Near the building that collapsed are other apartments that also do not meet the required standards. An orange building adjacent is among the buildings the President ordered tenants to vacate.