Building Inspectorate declares Huruma area not suitable for flats

Residents of Huruma estate in Nairobi have been ordered out of 388 condemned buildings by the government.

The order was issued on Monday by Nairobi Regional Commissioner Kang’ethe Thuku who said the government will not negotiate when demolitions begin.

"Some people have gone ahead and grabbed all the way leaves and riparian land. We are going to take all these land back," said Thuku.

At the same time, the government led by the building inspectorate has started a fresh exercise of marking condemned buildings and structures in the area.

This comes with a revelation from the Directorate of Inspectorate officer Moses Nyakiongora that the area is not suitable for flats.

“This area used to be a quarry then it became a dumpsite. If one does not have a deeper foundation for the houses, then it (building) cannot be stable,” said Nyakiongora.

Nyakiongora was speaking during a meeting convened on Monday by the Regional Commissioner to address rampant issues of collapsed buildings.

The order to vacate the area was met with hostile reaction from the residents and area leaders who said the government is to blame for the cases.

"It is you (county) who give permits to random people as long as they show interest to build. You do not even check if those people have enough funds to put up a flat, all you do is allocate them open spaces," lamented area Member of County Assembly David Okello.

On Sunday, a five storey building housing 15 families came crumbling down at midnight after showing cracks. Three people died in the incident.

In April 2016, a six storey building also collapsed after a week of heavy rains killing 51 people and displacing hundreds others.

“The major reason why these buildings are collapsing is structural integrity. This is because of poor workmanship associated with wrong mixtures of materials or using unqualified personnel,” said Nyakiongora.

Nyakiongora said the owner of the building involved in the latest tragedy had been issued with a plan for two floors, but instead three were added to make five.

At least 388 buildings were found to be unsafe according to an audit report released in March. This is out of 2,011 that were audited.

“We are not going to rest until all buildings are corrected. Any landlord should ensure that in every ten households (families) there should be a flashing toilet and a shower,” he said.

It is also mandatory according to the National Construction Authority that every building of five storey or 42 feet high and above should have a lift.

Most of the buildings in Huruma do not have these amenities despite them being up to eight floors up.