NAIROBI— Three more people are yet to be accounted for after five bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the collapsed four-storey Sunstar Hotel in Gatanga, Murang’a County.
The death toll now rises to six when one of the victims died while undergoing treatment in hospital.
Roads and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary, James Macharia who visited the scene Sunday morning, said he expects the operations to be concluded by the end of the day Sunday.
Macharia said the adjacent building that was also under construction has been condemned and will be demolished.
“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has already started the process of hunting down all the professionals concerned both at the National government and at the county level,” said the CS.
He lauded the multi-agency team led by Murang’a County security team, Kenya Defence Forces and National Youth Service for helping in removing bodies of the workers who were trapped in the ill-fated building.
The CS said from preliminary investigations, the structure was being done in haste and condemned professionals who are led by greed to compromise quality of works.
He said the construction industry has been performing well, something which has earned the country more income but expressed concerns about poor workmanship which leads to the collapse of buildings.
“When one building collapses, it taints all the achievements which have been attained in the construction industry since many times it leads to loss of lives. Crumpling of houses which are under construction is due to negligence and greed by entrusted government officers mandated to supervise all the works,” he added.
“We will definitely take action on all those who were in charge of the construction from county team to national government,” Macharia said.
The CS urged all 47 devolved administrations to be keen when giving out construction permits saying county officers should be doing regular inspections on constructions.
“The primary responsibility lies with the county governments and they should not blame the National Construction Authority when they have not diligently done their work,” he added.
Macharia revealed that preliminary reports from an ongoing buildings auditing exercise show that more than 4,000 buildings have been earmarked as unsafe.
He urged the National Building Inspectorate to fast-track audits of all houses that are marked to avert disaster.
“Once the ongoing audit is completed, the houses marked as unsafe will be brought down. This is a big loss to investments in the country that’s why I appeal to professionals in the construction industry to do their work properly,” he stated.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK