Nakumatt Ukay building in Westlands, Nairobi was on Friday demolished in the ongoing crackdown on buildings put up along riparian lands.
The demolitions were said to have started at 5 a. m. despite a scheduled parliamentary committee meeting the owners of the buildings had for the same day.
The rigorous exercise saw one of the bulldozers that were engaged in the demolitions under the rubble after two floors of the building tumbled.
One of the property's manager spoke to Citizen TV emphasising that they had not been given any kind of notice of the impending demolitions.
[caption caption="Bulldozer buried under rubble during demolitions at Nakumatt Ukay Mall"]
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[caption caption="By standers and owners of Ukay mall watch as bulldozers bring down the mall on August 10, 2018"]
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"There is no river under this property, the nation has been cheated. There's only a stream at the back of this building.
"No government authority has ever issued us with a notice of demolition despite us moving to court," stated the manager who identified himself as Veril.
He further stated that the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) had sanctioned the building and had never offered a vacation notice.
"NEMA are the same people who approved this building. We have all our approved structural drawings, all the architectural plans approved and they have not given us any vacation notice.
"We only learnt about all these demolitions and that our building may be next through social media," he stated.
A trader who was present at the site also conveyed that he had not been allowed to retrieve his wares before the demolition.
[caption caption="Nakumatt Ukay Mall at the beginning of demolitions on August 10, 2018"]
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[caption caption="Moment when Nakumatt Ukay Mall building collapsed onto a bulldozer during demolitions courtesy of Citizen TV"]
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Owners had moved to court on Thursday seeking an injunction to bar any government agencies against interfering with the Ksh900 Million property.
High Court Justice Wilfrida Okwany, however, declined to grant the application instead ordering that the respondents ought to be served and a joint parties hearing be held on August 14.
