State to demolish illegal buildings in urban areas

By Cyrus Ombati

Buildings with more than five floors, but without lifts would be demolished.

Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi issued the directive yesterday and ordered local councils to effect by-laws that govern construction.

"We are not inventing anything new. This is the law. Councils and constructors have to follow it," said Mudavadi.

He said they would start with Nairobi. A team comprising of City Hall officials, Provincial Administration, architectural association and other stakeholders would audit buildings.

If the directive is effected, almost half of buildings in Eastlands would be demolished.

The officials will issue enforcement notices to state the mistakes in the affected houses, and give tenants time to vacate before they demolish.

"If you know your building is illegal in any manner, be ready to face the law. The era of impunity ended because we are sitting on a time bomb. Most of these buildings are illegal and we have to address the problem now," Mudavadi said.

He said there would be no mercy and no complacency in implementing by-laws in Nairobi, as the council will be joined with the Provincial Security Committee.

The minister spoke when he visited the five-storey building that collapsed in Lang’ata on Sunday, injuring six workers.

Earmarked for demolition

Town Clerk Philip Kisia, Mayor George Aladwa and senior council officials accompanied him.

The Embakasi building that collapsed last Tuesday was sandwiched between other buildings, which council officials suspect are illegal.

City Council has blamed courts for the collapse of the Embakasi building, saying it had been earmarked for demolition two years ago.

The developer of the building, however, moved to court stopping the demolition resulting in a battle whose climax was a court order that Kisia be committed to 21 days civil jail.

The clerk further sent alarm over other illegal buildings in Embakasi-Pipeline, Kahawa West Phase II, Tassia, Umoja Zone Eight and Nine, Kayole, Roysambu and Mwiki. He cautioned tenants against occupying them.

Penalty for non-compliance

Mudavadi said the Langa’ta building had not been approved by City Council and was being built on a highway, which is contrary to by-laws.

He said some council officials and engineers would be punished for the tragedy.

Mudavadi noted greed and pressure to have more houses is leading to mushrooming of buildings.

He noted that apart from the council lacking the capacity to effect by-laws, corruption was also behind the problem.

"This is putting people’s lives in danger for commercial purposes. People must realise the problems and address them."

He said the council will amend the law to ensure the penalty for non-compliance is increased from the current Sh100,000.

The minister said more new laws are at the Attorney General’s office waiting to be cleared to guide the running of councils.