Sakaja faces scrutiny as families search for missing kin after Eastleigh building collapsed

One person was rescued Saturday from the site of the collapsed building in Eastleigh as Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration came under fire over its handling of building approvals.

By last evening, reports indicated that at least six people were still trapped in the rubble, although the number of those missing remained uncertain. At least 31 families had also reported relatives missing following Friday’s collapse.

On Friday, while visiting the scene, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen insisted that 67 people who had been in the building had been accounted for.

But as bulldozers and rescue teams dug through the rubble on the second day of the operation, hoping to save those still trapped, Rose Adeyo remained restless.

She was waiting for news of her brother, Oscar, who she feared could be among those trapped in the multi-storey building that came tumbling down along the busy 9th Street in Eastleigh on Friday.

Adeyo arrived at the scene on the second day of the rescue operation after her brother, an electrician who lives in Pipeline estate in Nairobi’s Eastlands, failed to return home on the day the building collapsed.

It was unclear whether Oscar was among those trapped or was still missing. His family said he had reported being transferred to a worksite in Eastleigh.

"He is an electrician and usually goes out to hunt for jobs and sometimes fails to return but he usually communicates to the family," she said.

"he had reported that he had been moved to Eastleigh and when the building collapsed he never came back and stopped picking calls even though his line was still going through,"

Among those waiting at the scene was Christine Njeri, whose sister, Aurelia, was operating a shop in the basement of the building when it collapsed.

"She was there with my cousin and when I heard the building had collapsed, I called my sister once and her phone was going through but I was overwhelmed after hearing her phone, from there she is not available, but we believe they will come out alive,"

The building collapsed at 1.09pm on Friday, according to witnesses who were at the scene.

"The building shook twice in an interval of about five minutes which allowed some people to exit then on the second time it collapsed," Ali Abdalla, one of the witnesses, said.

Rescue efforts at the collapsed storey building in Eastleigh 9th street in Nairobi County. [Benard Orwongo Standard]

Documents relating to the building indicate that the civil and structural engineering submission was made under Precise Civil Engineering Ltd, with Stromax Holdings E.A. Limited listed as the contractor.

Maina was listed as the project architect and Joseph Mutturi Mugu as the project structural engineer.

Speaking at the site yesterday,  Sakaja said the county approved a change of use on October 17, 2024, following an application submitted by physical planner Nathan Mutunga Kiiti.

However, he said architectural plans submitted on November 20, 2024, by architect Emmanuel Mwangi Maina, had not been approved by the county.

Meanwhile, weeks before the tragedy, professionals in the built environment had raised concerns about their exclusion from the team responsible for approving buildings.

Architects, engineers and surveyors told the Nairobi County Assembly’s Urban Planning Committee that the Urban Planning Technical Committee (UPTC), formed by Governor Sakaja, was improperly constituted because most professional bodies had been left out.

The Institution of Engineers of Kenya, the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya and the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) said Nairobi urgently needed a functional policy to guide planning and development control in the built environment.

“We do have to take in the input of associations when we give them and also just to ensure that their feedback loop is also maintained because we do participate a lot in giving feedback to the county,” said AAK Vice-President Brenda Nyawara.

The professionals also raised concerns over the use of online platforms to process building approvals, claiming the system was sometimes interfered with, creating opportunities for corruption.

“We cannot have buildings collapsing and then we go back to try and ask who is responsible for all this,” Nyawara said.

Yesterday, the committee asked Sakaja to take responsibility for the collapsed building. Committee chairman Godfrey Majiwa accused the governor of allowing impunity in the Planning Department.

“We are asking the governor that he has to accept that changes must be brought in that department for the safety of the people of Nairobi and development to take place in a manner that is required,” Majiwa said.

Deputy Minority Leader Waithera Chege said it was a mystery that all the shops on the ground floor of the collapsed building had fire certificates.

“How were these certificates issued if the occupational certificate did not come from the County. We are asking that all those involved be charged,” Waithera stated.