Nairobi Building Authorities’ Negligence Is Killing People: Shauri Moyo and Westlands Collapses Expose Failuresî

By Judith Mwai

Two weeks. Two major building collapses. At least five lives lost. Shauri Moyo on March 16, which killed four, and a 22-storey construction in Westlands partially collapsing this week, claiming at least one life and trapping others. These are not accidents—they are the result of systemic negligence by Nairobi’s regulatory authorities, who have allowed unsafe buildings to rise unchecked.

According to Mtetezi – the Grassroots Economic Justice Movement, the city’s construction oversight is in crisis. Stop orders are ignored. Unsafe buildings continue to rise. Approvals are granted without full technical scrutiny. Zoning regulations, ventilation standards, setbacks, and public safety rules are routinely violated. Reports are written, filed, and forgotten—until another tragedy occurs.

“Buildings do not collapse because concrete is weak,” Mtetezi warned. “They collapse because authorities fail. Because inspections are ignored. Because approvals are compromised. Because ethics are optional and profits mandatory. Every ignored warning, every buried investigation, is a future death notice.”

The Shauri Moyo and Westlands collapses are the tip of a regulatory iceberg. High-risk developments continue to mushroom unchecked. Residents live beside unsafe structures, workers enter hazardous sites out of necessity, and the public witnesses a cycle of negligence that goes unpunished.

Mtetezi calls for urgent accountability:

• Governor Johnston Sakaja must release inspection and approval records for both Shauri Moyo and Westlands, and other high-risk sites.
• Professional bodies must identify and discipline engineers, architects, and surveyors linked to these collapses.
• National agencies, including Parliament and anti-corruption bodies, must investigate collusion, unlawful approvals, and regulatory failures.
  

For families mourning loved ones, workers risking unsafe sites, and residents living in fear, the warning is clear: Nairobi’s authorities are failing their people. Until oversight, regulation, and ethics are enforced, more buildings will collapse and more lives will be lost.

No more ignored reports. No more unsafe buildings. No more buried victims.