A crackdown has been launched against rogue Kiambu landlords who have been accused of ignoring government directives to erect illegal structures that have ended up collapsing.
Following the recent cases of buildings collapsing in the area, the Kiambu County government on Tuesday, September 7, intervened to avert the reoccurrence of similar cases.
A five-storey building collapsed in the Kihara area near Gachie in Kiambu County, killing three people while the Kinoo building collapsed on Friday, September 3.
To tame rogue landlords, the Kiambu County inspectorate officers will be inspecting and approving the construction of buildings in the area.
The Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) is working with the task force constituted by Governor James Nyoro to prevent further destruction.
The county is already setting up a fully equipped office that will be tasked with approving architectural designs in the whole county.
EBK is pushing to have the policy adopted by all the 47 counties across the country.
Already Governor Nyoro has pledged to convene a meeting with a Council of Governors to push for the formation of county task forces that will be approving the construction of buildings in collaboration with the National Construction Authority of Kenya (NCA).
"We are setting up offices within the county and sub-county offices where you quickly come and alert us that you don't have an approval. Whether or not you have approval the team will make sure that they have inspected the strength and the fact that you have complied with what was approved," Nyoro stated.
This comes after NCA blamed Kiambu County on the approval of the Kinoo building that was brought down on Monday, September 6.
However, according to a report by the National Disaster Management Unit Director Duncan Ochieng, the Kinoo building was approved by the Kiambu County Government.
The owner of the building capitalised on the approval by the county government to extends its construction from the five-storey that was initially approved.
"From the information we have, there was no site engineer, site supervisor so you wonder how the work was going on. We have to ask ourselves what these scenarios are communicating to us," NCA stated.
Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi had also called out the Kiambu County government and rogue landlords after the incident pushing for more laws to curb the buildings collapse disaster.
"The county government should follow through and ensure any prescribed course of action, including demolition, is enforced against condemned buildings. I also urge the building owners to ensure they follow, to the letter, the highest standards in building and construction procedures not only for the safety of the people but also to safeguard their hard-earned investments," Wamatangi proposed in a statement issued on Friday, September 3.
