Owner of collapsed South C building, four others charged with manslaughter

South C Manzil Towers owner Abdishakur Muse Mohammed and four others charged with manslaughter over the collapse of the building in Nairobi on July 14, 2026. [Nancy Gitonga, Standard]

The owner of the ill-fated Manzil Towers building in South C, Nairobi, Abdishakur Muse Mohammed, and four other accused persons have been formally charged with multiple criminal offences, including manslaughter, over the January 2, 2026, building collapse that claimed two lives.

The accused persons, who appeared before the Milimani Chief Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, were each released on a Sh5 million bond with one surety of a similar amount or an alternative cash bail of Sh2 million pending the hearing and determination of the case.

At the same time, the court issued summons requiring suspended Nairobi County Chief Officer for Urban Planning Patrick Analo Akivaga to appear before court on July 20, 2026, to take plea after he failed to attend Tuesday's scheduled arraignment.

Milimani Chief Magistrate Caroline Mugo directed that Analo must personally appear before the court to answer three counts of abuse of office linked to the approval of the construction of Manzil Towers before its collapse.

The prosecution has charged businessman Abdishakur alongside Yussuf Mohammed Yussuf, Daniel Alphonse Odhiambo and Gideon Chege Gakundi alias Gideon Chege Mwangi with two counts of manslaughter contrary to Sections 202 and 205 of the Penal Code.

According to the charge sheet, the four are accused of unlawfully causing the deaths of Ali Adan Galgalo Abdi and Hassan Huka when the multi-storey building collapsed in South C, Lang'ata Sub-County, on January 2, 2026.

Besides the manslaughter charges, Abdishakur and Yussuf face several counts of making documents without authority and uttering false documents allegedly used during the approval process of the building project.

The prosecution alleges that the two fraudulently made and presented several documents, including a notification approving change of land use, a geotechnical investigation report, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) licence and a Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services registration certificate.

The charge sheet states that on November 4, 2023, the two knowingly uploaded the allegedly forged documents into the National Construction Authority's online project registration system while falsely representing them as genuine documents issued by the relevant government agencies.

The prosecution further alleges that the developer, together with Yussuf, Gakundi and Odhiambo, commenced construction of Manzil Towers in February 2024 without an Environmental Impact Assessment licence, contrary to the Environmental Management and Coordination Act.

In a separate set of charges, suspended Nairobi County planning chief Patrick Analo Akivaga and fellow county official Fredrick Ondari Ochanda are accused of abuse of office.

According to the charge sheet, the two, while serving as members of Nairobi County's Urban Planning and Technical Committee, are alleged to have arbitrarily approved the construction of Manzil Towers on Land Reference No. 209/5909/10 (Nairobi Block 68/1306).

The prosecution says the approvals were granted on December 19, 2023, February 13, 2025 and November 6, 2025, allegedly in abuse of their offices.

Because Analo failed to appear in court on Mugo issued summons requiring him to attend court on July 20 for plea taking.

His co-accused, Fredrick Ondari Ochanda, is also expected to answer to the charges before the court.

The criminal case also targets several public officials accused of failing to stop the construction despite alleged non-compliance with building regulations.

Among those facing neglect of official duty charges are David Kibui Kigathi, William Odongo Ochieng and John Gombe Osike.

The prosecution alleges that despite being public officers mandated to enforce compliance, they failed to stop the construction of the building on three separate occasions despite knowing it did not meet the required legal standards.

Also charged with neglect of official duty is Bowen Kwambai Kanda, the then National Construction Authority Regional Coordinator.

He is accused of willfully failing to verify documents submitted in support of the Manzil Towers project despite being legally obligated to do so.

The prosecution maintains that the accused persons' actions and omissions directly contributed to the construction of the building that later collapsed, resulting in the deaths of two people.

The charges follow investigations conducted by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which were subsequently reviewed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

Earlier, the ODPP announced that it had found sufficient evidence to prosecute developers, engineers, architects, county officials and regulatory officers over the disaster after conducting an independent review of the investigation file submitted by the DCI.

According to the ODPP, the decision to prosecute was reached after establishing that there existed a realistic prospect of conviction based on the available evidence.

The prosecution said the charges cover offences ranging from manslaughter, abuse of office and neglect of official duty to making and uttering false documents as well as commencing a construction project without the mandatory environmental approvals.

The collapse of Manzil Towers on January 2 sparked national outrage and renewed concerns over lax enforcement of building regulations, integrity of approval processes and accountability within Nairobi's construction sector.