Audit ordered after building collapse

Kenya’s president has ordered an audit of all buildings in the capital Nairobi after an eight-storey residential building collapsed, killing at least two people in the city’s second deadly collapse in a month caused by bad construction, officials said.

In December, eight people died when a building collapsed in Kaloleni, another lower-income area of Nairobi.

“The president is appalled that the building falls in a pattern of many structures across the country, that have been constructed without adherence to the basic laws and regulations governing housing development,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta’s spokesman, Manoah Esipisu.

A high demand for housing in Nairobi means some property developers often bypass building regulations to cut costs and maximise profits. The Architectural Society of Kenya has estimated that 50% of structures in Nairobi are not up to standards.

The president expects a full investigation into the developers and anyone else involved in the approval of the collapsed building’s construction, Mr Esipisu said, adding that those found culpable should be charged in court.

One of the victims in Sunday’s building collapse died at hospital, and a child’s body was retrieved from the rubble in the lower-income Huruma area, Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue said. Rescuers saved 38 people and the military assisted in the search for survivors.