At around 5 am on Thursday, November 17, Patrick Karomo became an orphan due to what he terms negligence and greed.
The son of the couple that succumbed after a collapsed building in Ruaka, Kiambu county, fell on their house was left heartbroken.
As he glanced at the debris of their family home, Karomo could not help but recall the beautiful memories he created with his late parents.
"This is where I used to sit with my parents," Karomo narrated amidst tears.
"They (the parents) have died because of someone's greed," he further lamented.
The plumber was resting at his home meters away from the family home when he was awakened by the roaring sound of the collapsing 6-storey building adjacent to his parents' house.
Painfully, the debris revived the days Karomo accompanied his late father and his uncle to the physical planning department to stop the construction.
Karomo added that the collapsed building had been condemned, but relevant authorities shied away from halting its development.
"The people who are supposed to stop the construction have been receiving bribes from the developer and my parents have paid the ultimate price for someone's greed," Karomo alleged.
His uncle, Kinuthia Karomo, shared the same sentiments that the building owner ignored professional advice and heeded the counsel of unqualified contractors.
"The contractors used Y-12 steel reinforcement bars in place of recommended Y-16 steel reinforcement bars, one of the sole reasons the building came crumbling down," he narrated.
Kimani Wamatangi, Kiambu governor, disbanded the technical committee responsible for approving the building's applications and inspections.
The 6-storey building collapsed barely hours after another storey house collapsed in Kasarani Nairobi county.
