The town of Ruaka in Kiambu County has become a favourite of a new breed of middle-class Kenyans thanks to deep-pocketed developers who have set up high-end apartments and are raking in good returns, especially from West Africans.
But rapid development has its dark side. Patrick Karomo lives in the area and when he retired to bed on Wednesday night after a long day working as a plumber, he never thought he would wake up on Thursday as an orphan.
A rogue developer was building a condemned six-storey commercial building, which came down on Thursday, claiming the lives of his two parents.
“This is where I used to sit with my parents. They have died because of someone’s greed,” Mr Karomo says, fighting back tears as a bulldozer runs over a pile of stones at the scene.
“As you can see, the house was condemned, but people who are supposed to stop the construction have been receiving bribes from the developer and my parents have paid the ultimate price for someone’s greed.”
The people Mr Karomo blamed for the deaths of his two parents – Peter Njithi and Faith Wambui – fall under the Lands, Housing and Physical Planning department in Kiambu County.
Peter Njithi and Faith Wambui who died when an adjacent building collapsed on their house in Ruaka on November 17, 2022.
Photo credit: Pool
A small clique of individuals, our sources say, has made the department a goldmine and if they convene and say someone will never build a house or get approval their decisions are the law.
“The problem of buildings collapsing in Kiambu will not end any time soon,” a developer based in Kiambu told the Nation in confidence.
“You want to do the right thing but those in charge can’t allow it and have to create roadblocks so that they have to come after every three weeks to ask for bribes after the developer gets tired and embarks on building without approval.
“So if the law says the maximum should be five floors, I have to add another floor to recover the money that I have used in bribing the planning department during the construction.
Mr Karomo told the Nation that his late father and his uncle had made countless visits to the physical planning department to stop the construction of the building without success.
“Our visits turned out like we were only informing them that there is an opening to make money. Now look at what has happened,’’ Mr Karomo said.
The first responders to the scene told the Nation that the incident happened at around 4 am on Thursday when the couple were asleep.
Mr Karomo said he heard a loud thud from his house which is a few metres from the site. When he stepped outside, he found his parent's house in the rubble.
Personnel from the Disaster Response Unit search for survivors in the Ruaka building collapse on November 17, 2022.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
The couple were sleeping in a house adjacent to the ill-fated building, which caved in and landed on the home.
“The building collapsed at 4 am and landed on a residential house. So far, two people have been confirmed dead while three have been rushed to Kiambu hospital,’’ said Samuel Kahura, the head of Kiambu Fire Brigade and Rescue Service, who was one of the first responders to the disaster.
“We believe more people could be under the rubble and we have teamed up with other government agencies, among them Kenya Red Cross, Kenya Defense Forces and Kenya police, to rescue those trapped in the debris.’’
Later in the day, Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi announced he had disbanded the technical committee that approved building applications and inspected construction.
“The committee members will also be subjected to investigation and action will be taken against those found to have conspired with rogue developers and contractors by approving and allowing the continuation of sub-standard buildings,’’ Mr Wamatangi said in a statement
“Further, I have directed that an audit be carried out on all buildings under construction in the county, with a focus on their safety.”
A rescue worker at the site of the collapsed building in Ruaka on November 17, 2022.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
He said preliminary investigations had revealed that the building collapsed due to poor workmanship, with reports indicating that in May this year, the building was condemned and construction was halted over several non-compliance issues.
The latest incident comes less than two months after another building collapsed in Kirigiti, Kiambu, in late September, claiming the lives of five people, including a mother and her two children. The six-storey building under construction caved in and landed on an adjacent residential house.
Kiambu is not new to houses collapsing due to poor workmanship. Some developers do not seek approvals from the relevant authorities and instead offer bribes to regulators for protection.
In all the reported cases of buildings collapsing and claiming lives, developers argue that getting approvals from the county is challenging because of deliberate delays and officials demanding kickbacks, prompting them to start work without approvals.
In October last year, a nine-storey building that was under construction in Ruiru, near Tatu City, collapsed, but luckily no workers were on site because it was a Sunday and construction workers had taken the day off.
On August 31 last year, a five-storey building under construction in Gachie, Kiambu, collapsed, killing five people.
In September last year, another building in Kinoo partially caved in as work continued on the sixth floor. No deaths were reported.
The administration of former Kiambu governor James Nyoro was condemned after it emerged that laxity, corruption and ineptitude at the physical planning department were key enablers of sinking and collapsing houses.
After the three incidents, Mr Nyoro set up a task force to investigate what was fuelling the disasters, but no report was made public.
In Thursday’s incident, workers were lucky that the building caved in before they started working.
