Kenya: Disaster in the Making

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Monicah Mwangi

23 June 2011

In 2006 a group of construction workers had just finished lunch and many were taking a nap when the five-story building they were working on began to sway, then quickly collapsed, killing at least 11 and injuring dozens.

In 2009 six people were killed after a three-story building collapsed at a building site in Kiambu. Experts warned that irresponsible contractors were to blame.

Six days ago, another group of construction workers narrowly escaped death after a five-storey building they were working on collapsed in Nairobi. This came barely a week after another building collapsed in Embakasi killing four people and leaving another 14 injured.

Speaking on the matter, Town Clerk Phillip Kisia said the council had tried to enforce its by-laws by issuing enforcement notices in 2009 to stop the development of the killer buildings. However the court issued interim orders a month later adding that such a tragedy would have been avoided. This is a clear indication of conflicts within the building sector in the country. “I am blaming the judiciary for the lives lost for interfering with the council’s mandate in enforcing its by-laws and other laws related to constructions in the city,” said Kisia in a recent interview.

The Eastlands part of Nairobi is most affected by the poorly constructed buildings as many houses are built without the contractors adhering to the guidelines set by the City Government. Some of these houses are built on swamps making them even more dangerous since most of them are already occupied.

According to Waweru Gathecha, an architect and planner with the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), Kenyans should not be surprised by the collapse of the buildings and noted that many more could be coming down in the future. “I am amazed only one building has come down in Pipeline, the buildings there are poorly constructed and its true most of them are a disaster in waiting,” revealed Waweru.

Waweru added that 50% of the buildings in Eastlands are not technically sound warning that most of them will come down. He attributed the poor construction to the developers who he said opted for shortcuts to try and make a little money on the side. “The greedy developers are to blame since they have the money and belief they can buy anything including the right to put up a building without following the set rules,” he said.

Waweru also blamed the Government citing chapter 5, article 66 of the Constitution which states that the state may regulate the use of any land or any interest in or right over any land in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health or land use planning.

He cleared AAK from the whole matter saying none of the collapsed building had been planned by an architect from the association. “As a matter of fact no building planned by our architect has collapsed and we have set mechanisms for disciplining any architect in our association who does a shoddy job.”

He however said there is nothing the association could do about the collapsing buildings since they don’t have the mandate to arrest or punish any person who is not in their membership list.

The city council bylaws states that any house that goes up beyond the fourth floor should have lifts but this law has highly been violated by developers who care more about the money than the lives of Kenyans. Some buildings have been built up to the seventh floor, most of them with single rooms and no lifts. The largest culprits being in Embakasi, Utawala, Kayole, Umoja, Dandora and even Mwiki, areas where most middle class Kenyans live.

According to the Town Clerk, the Nairobi City Council had identified most of the above estates adding Kahawa West Phase II, Tassia, Umoja Zone 8 & 9 and Roysambu as areas where unauthorized constructions were rife and appealed to residents of these areas to demand approval records of the structures they were occupying and verify the information with the NCC.

“The council will carry out an assessment on all structures in the city and those that would fail integrity test will be demolished,” said Kisia. He went ahead to say that, “there will be no mercy, there will be no sympathy and there will be no complacency. It will be firm and decisive”.

The Town Clerk urged the public to support the council’s enforcement actions of demolishing unauthorized constructions.

Kisia argued that another problem they face is the part of the public who protect the developers who violate NCC laws and rights of the citizens. However when a building comes down the same citizens get affected and go ahead blaming the council claiming they are not doing their work.

Due to the multiple laws and regulations guiding planning and building in Kenya, various conflicts have been witnessed in the past. There is lack of a mainstream mechanism for physical development planning thus creating a conflict between the national, regional and local levels of planning.

Whereas the plan formulation and preparation is undertaken by the Central Government, plan implementation is the responsibility of the Local Government. This has led to development plans that don’t meet local needs thus failing to address local realities.

The building industry lacks a comprehensive and integrated framework within which to operate. The divided legislation makes it difficult for developers to understand the requirements and creates ambiguities that make effective enforcement of the law difficult leading to the disastrous incidents witnessed.

A Planning and Building Bill which was tabled in Parliament last year is yet to be signed into law showing a lack of initiative to regulate the building sector. If the Bill had been signed it would have enabled the creation of the Planning and Building Authority that would enhance the coordination of the planning and building sector actors.

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