Editor's Review

"As the Nairobi Senator, I have gotten to a point where it is very difficult for me to stand up every time something like this happens."

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has explained why he neither visited the Eastleigh Building Collapse site nor issued a statement on the incident.

Speaking in the Senate on Thursday, November 5, Sifuna said he did not arrive on the site because he feared that he would impede the rescue operation.

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He said that the National Police Service was forced to tear gas crowds that gathered on the scene for their own safety and that of those trapped in the building, and he did not want to add to the burden.

"I have always followed instructions from the Kenya Red Cross, and they advised us not to go to the sites because sometimes we actually impede rescue efforts. In Eastleigh, the police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd," Sifuna stated.

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The Linda Mwananchi Movement (LMM) Leader added that he did not state because it would not address the main cause of the building collapse.

A file photo of the Eatleigh Building collapse.

He argued that the collapse is a by-product of blatant corruption in the public service, and powerful investors who use friends in top leadership positions to circumvent construction laws and policies.

"As the Nairobi Senator, I have gotten to a point where it is very difficult for me to stand up every time something like this happens to issue a standard statement condoling the families; we must confront the monster, which is impunity," he stated.

Sifuna revealed that the Senate had summoned Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja over the functionality of the appeals board, after reports revealed that the members were not performing their roles due to unpaid allowances

"We have a law that there is an appeals board that residents can go to if they have a challenge or problem with a construction in their neighbourhood. At some point, that board was non-functional just because they were not being paid their allowances. We summoned the governor here, and we thought those issues were resolved,"

He further demanded that the 'untouchable' owners of some of the construction projects be audited.

Earlier, rescue operators recovered three more bodies from the collapse site, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to five.