A group of Nairobi MCAs has urged Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and all urban planning officials in the executive to take responsibility for the collapsed 18-storey building in Eastleigh.
The MCAs, led by planning committee chairman Geoffrey Majiwa, claim the planning department is being run unprofessionally.
According to Majiwa, the planning department is in disarray, with a junior officer mandated to approve building plans irregularly, thereby undermining the role of the Urban Planning Technical Committee (UPTC).
“There are characters who are seated in the office of governor who are approving plans, not the professionals who are seated there. Those who are seated there are not doing anything. Then they are just watching things unfold. It’s a scenario where a junior officer is in charge of his bosses, supervising them and giving them orders,” Majiwa said.
“So, we are asking the governor that he has to accept that changes must happen in that department for the safety of the people of Nairobi and development to take place in a manner that is required,” Majiwa said.
The same sentiments were echoed by South B MCA Waithera Chege, who asked the governor to surrender to the nearest police station and record a statement on the matter.
“I watched last night, governor lying on TV, that there was no approval. I have issued a copy of that approval that was issued by the county government. The developer documented the content of the approval under the NCA system, and I challenge you to go and interview the National Construction Authority. Let them confirm whether their system has a copy of that approval, which I have just issued now,” Waithera said.
“This process is governed by the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, number 13 of 2019, including section 6061 on the consultation and determination of development applications. There has been no allegation that the approval submitted to NCA was fake.”
The committee is expected to convene next week to deliberate on county approvals for all buildings before determining the way forward regarding further approvals.
“We are convening next week and we are going to make drastic decisions to make sure that no approvals will continue in Nairobi unless that department is completely overhauled and changes must take place in that department because that department is completely rotten. There's no professionalism that is going on in that department. It is business that is going on there,” Majiwa said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has established an emergency response desk at the rescue site, with hopes of assisting anyone who may still be trapped beneath the debris.
Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni said the ministry was working closely with the Nairobi government to support rescue operations and provide medical assistance to survivors.
“The Ministry of Health has activated disaster response protocols and is working closely with the county government of Nairobi to support medical response to all those that may still be found alive,” Muthoni said.
