Sakaja Denies His Gov’t Approved Construction of Collapsed Eastleigh Building: “This Is Not True”

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has denied claims that his administration approved the construction of the multistorey building that collapsed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, disputing a document shared by Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.

Taking to his X account on Sunday evening, October 25, Sakaja maintained that the developer had never received development approval from the county government despite obtaining permission to change the property’s use.

The Nairobi governor explained that the developer applied to change the property’s use from residential to a combination of residential and commercial purposes in August 2024. The county approved the change of user in October 2024.

However, Sakaja said the developer only applied for development approval in November 2024, making it impossible for the application to have been approved in February of the same year, as claimed.

He insisted that the developer proceeded with construction without the required building approvals despite enforcement action by county officials.

Sakaja further revealed that county officials had repeatedly taken enforcement action against the development and arrested suspects over violations.

According to the under fire governor, the most recent arrests occurred in July after the developer allegedly failed to comply with an enforcement order.

However, the suspects were released on a KSh 50,000 bail at Kamukunji Police Station on the same day, according to the governor.

He also claimed that efforts to prosecute the violations had been unsuccessful, arguing that county governments should regain the power to prosecute offences involving county laws.

Sakaja said some cases involving illegal developments had been rejected by prosecutors, dismissed by courts or attracted minimal fines, even where the developments involved substantial investments.

He described a KSh 50,000 fine for an illegal development worth hundreds of millions of shillings as unreasonable, particularly where there was no order requiring the developer to stop construction or remove the offending structure.

The governor added that he had raised the issue in the Senate and would continue pushing for a review of the handling of such cases.

Sakaja also announced plans to work with the building inspectorate, the Engineers Board of Kenya and professional associations to audit all ongoing construction projects in Nairobi.

The exercise will assess structural integrity, compliance with the law and the action required where violations are identified.

His statement followed Babu’s post earlier on Sunday, in which the MP shared a county document that he said showed the collapsed building had been approved on February 13, 2024.

The Embakasi East MP accused Sakaja of misleading Kenyans about the approval status of the building and demanded that the governor take responsibility for the tragedy.

Babu also alleged that Sakaja had received a KSh 120 million bribe to fast-track approval of the construction plans.

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