Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Sherrif Nassir, on the night of Wednesday, April 9, took action after the demolition of an 11-storey building, suspending county staff involved in its construction.
The building brought down in an operation led by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) is under investigation to determine what caused the cracks that threatened its collapse. This is after a multi-agency assessment declared the storey building, which is located along the Abdel Nasser Road, structurally unfit.
Through a statement late last night, the governor ordered all county inspectors involved in the project to go on compulsory leave pending the outcome of investigations.
“I hereby direct the county building inspectors involved in this project to proceed on compulsory leave pending the outcome of this investigation. Further, all building extension approvals stand suspended until further notice,” Abdulswamad instructed.
As per Nassir, there was compelling evidence indicating construction compliance failures, professional negligence, and possible malpractice in the construction and supervision of the project.
Additionally, the building that was in the latter stages of construction claimed a casualty when it first collapsed, hinting towards professional negligence. This, according to the governor, was cause for investigation.
To address this issue, Nassir formed a multi-agency task force to investigate the construction and oversight of the unsafe building. The task force is mandated to conduct a comprehensive audit of all completed structures built by the developer, contractor, project engineer, and project architect.
Further, the task force was directed to suspend all ongoing construction by the aforementioned persons on other sites. The team would thus be required to identify and document any breaches of legal, procedural, or ethical standards.
The outcome of this would be recommendations of appropriate disciplinary, legal, or administrative action against the officers or entities found culpable, as well as proposing reforms to prevent recurrence and strengthen compliance and accountability in the county’s construction oversight processes.
The task force is composed of representatives from the National Building Inspectorate, Engineers Board of Kenya, the National Construction Authority, and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) – Mombasa. Other agencies involved are the Kenya Institute of Planners – Coastal Chapter, Board of Registered Architects and Quantity Surveyors (BORAQS), and Association of Architects of Kenya (AAK).
KDF officers were formally deployed to the region to oversee the demolition of the building and assist in the emergency response on Tuesday, April 8, through a gazette notice by Defence Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya.
The military personnel successfully brought down the building using explosives on Wednesday afternoon, an activity that took nearly four hours.
During the demolition process, the KDF officers were deployed to the inner area of the building premises, while officers from the National Police Service (NPS) were deployed to restrict access to the area.
Hours before the process, residents were urged to adjust their travel plans, with the locals forced to evacuate to safer places while schools and hospitals were closed temporarily.
