When you see SANY, the demolition tractor you know trouble and misfortune is in the horizon. Today, the bulldozer brought down a seven-storey building under construction at Bee Center in Kayole, Nairobi county.
Governor Sonko today announced the arrest of the owner of the condemned building saying that he would not allow such corruption to take place under his watch.
My admin cannot sit back & watch innocent Kenyans trapped in collapsed buildings because of corruption.This morning a multi-agency team led by City Hall officials arrested owner of a condemned 7-storey building in Kayole for building without approvals/ignoring a demolition notice pic.twitter.com/LANyA8LAJF
— Mike Sonko (@MikeSonko) November 23, 2018
“My admin cannot sit back & watch innocent Kenyans trapped in collapsed buildings because of corruption. This morning a multi-agency team led by City Hall officials arrested owner of a condemned 7-storey building in Kayole for building without approvals/ignoring a demolition notice,” said Governor Sonko in a tweet.
The Governor further issued a stern warning to other individuals putting up buildings in Nairobi County without genuine approvals.
The owner of the building, Caroline Wanjiru was also arrested by a team of Government multi-agency, led by City Hall officials, for constructing a building without approvals.
Reports say that she had been issued with a notice to demolish the building on November 9 and also ordered to submit its structural integrity report within seven days which she failed to do.
The building has now been demolished after the notice period elapsed.
13:39 City Hall starts demolishing the risky Kayole building after public uproar pic.twitter.com/UcOC9wwX0R via @ThikaTowntoday
— Ma3Route (@Ma3Route) November 23, 2018
The state of the building caused public uproar on social media with most people asking how the County Government authorized such a building to be constructed in a populous place like Kayole.
The seven-storey building in Kayole now joins the list of several other buildings that have this year been marked as unsafe residential buildings among those that have collapsed and killed dozens of people. The demolition of the building comes after massive backlash to which Governor Sonko responded to by ordering for the building’s demolition yesterday night.
The government is doing a great job in demolishing buildings that are illegal but no one seems to be interested in the parties that gave a go-ahead for the construction of such buildings. Is arresting building owners helpful if there are other corrupt officials who will walk away scot-free?