Kenyan Authority Blames Police Over Kisii Building Collapse

by November 11, 2016, 12:38 pm

A French fireman and his dog search in the rubble of a building after an explosion collapsed it, in Rosny-sous-Bois, outside Paris, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014. French authorities say a four-story building in a northeastern Paris suburb has collapsed after an explosion, killing a child. More people are thought to underneath the rubble. Speaking on i-Tele, fire department spokesman Gabriel Plus said around 10 people were evacuated from the building in Rosny-sous-bois that occurred early Sunday morning. Plus said that around another 10 people could still be underneath the rubble, and emergency teams were working hard to rescue people who might be trapped. "We could still find living victims in the hours to come," he said. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has arrived at the scene, but couldn't confirm a theory that the explosion was caused by a gas leak. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Police had failed to arrest the owner of a building that collapsed on Thursday in Kisii killing six people and injuring dozens.

The National Construction Authority (NCA) said the agency stopped construction on the building but the owner defied the order.

Speaking to the Nation on Thursday evening, NCA Chief Executive Officer Daniel Manduku absolved his agency from blame, saying it had done its part.

“The National Construction Authority asked the police to arrest the developer of the collapsed property but the officers failed to comply with the request,” said Mr Manduku.

He added that the NCA had suspended the project twice but the developer went ahead with the construction.

“We suspended the construction of the building twice, the latest being July 12, 2016,” he said.

Mr Manduku said the authority does not have the powers to arrest and prosecute offenders flouting construction rules.

He also blamed the county government for the failure to take action despite being advised to do so.

“We expected the county government, through its Physical Planning Department, to enforce the order to stop the construction of the building,” said Mr Manduku.

NCA Communication Officer Wangui Kabala said the developer had not complied with set guidelines.

“The Authority can confirm the collapsed structure was registered as a project. However, after our compliance officers discovered during the routine quality assurance exercises that the developer had exceeded the number of floors in the approved plans, the construction works on the site were immediately suspended. This was in November 2015,” the officer said.

The National Disaster Management Unit, led by Pius Masai, arrived in Kisii on Thursday evening to take over rescue efforts.