Close to 1,600 buildings have been inspected in Nairobi by the Buildings Inspectorate and out of that figure, close to 800 buildings were considered defective and this is a result of poor safety standards in the construction industry in Kenya.
Moses Nyakiongora, the secretary of the recently established Buildings Inspectorate at the Land, Housing and Urban Planning ministry, said that about 48 per cent of the buildings are okay, but the other 52 per cent needed to be attended to.
“The 52 per cent are not all condemned, but they must be improved. Some of them will need strengthening, some will need to improve on ventilation, water provision, and light provision to make them habitable,” he explained.
Accoridng to the Buildings Inspectorate most of these buildings lack good lighting systems, lack enough air circulation that results to various respiratory diseases and basically have a weak structure that does not fit to the expectations.
The Buildings Inspectorate was established because of the many buildings that are collapsing in the country and killing and injuring residents and other citizens. The exercise will further be conducted in other towns as well.
Recently 30 workers were trapped in a shopping mall in Kisumu after a weak column failed on a two-storey building. Since last year, more than 10 people have lost their lives after buildings collapsed.
