Photos of technicians installing steel jack props on a sinking five-storey apartment building in Kiambu County on Friday, April 8, elicited debate among Kenyans.
The move by the technicians was termed as not durable and a temporary solution to support the 10-year-old building that developed cracks.
While speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Engineer Hillary Obar argued that using the props was ill-advised as it only offered a temporary solution.
"It is not advisable to use the steel jacks, it will only offer a short-term solution to the problem," he emphasised.
According to the engineer, the props could not contain the weight of the building, and more solutions should be looked into.
Obar suggested using pillars, adding that it was also a temporary solution and more investigations needed to be conducted to determine the cause of the building sinking.
"One of the causes of the cracks may be that the building was not meant to extend the number of floors. There may have been some compromise in the construction, an issue that is cropping up," he added.
He also advised that it was unsafe for tenants to occupy the building as the magnitude of the building collapsing was uncertain.
On the other hand, engineer Nashon Tambo was shocked by the temporary option used by the technicians.
"There are measures to be taken. It just needs a concerted effort from a technical team to execute and manage it. Not using steel jack props," he stated.
"If the building is 'sinking' why would they think supporting it on steel jack props will stop the sinking? That can't hold the cumulative load from the successive floors," he posed.
On Thursday, April 6, tenants were asked to vacate the 10-year-old building in Kiambu as the county government sought to avoid recording casualties.
"Following preliminary investigation that linked the cracks to a foundation failure, the county structural engineers declared the building as unsafe for occupation," read part of the statement from the county government.
Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi, announced a crackdown on all unworthy buildings in the county.
He added that an audit was ongoing to examine structural integrity following the continuous collapsing of the building, which was attributed to poor workmanship as a result of failure by the county government to enforce compliance and corruption.
In 2022, Land Cabinet Secretary Zachary Njeru announced plans to demand all building owners to insure their property in the future before they are approved for use.
