Despite persistent protests from the relevant professional bodies, the rate of construction of substandard residential apartments is on the increase, especially in Eastlands, Dagoretti and Thika Road. This is in full knowledge of City inspectors who use such projects as cash cows, passing by to withdraw weekly bribes instead of checking on their adherence to city by laws and safety standards.
While it has been argued that Kenyans who have invested heavily in such projects should be spared losses of demolition, why is it that similar developments are allowed to proceed right under the nose of City Hall?
Such projects may not only be structurally unsound, but they flout every single bylaw regarding fire safety and provision for parking and green spaces. The result is a massive concrete jungle that’s crude to the eye and environment, strained infrastructural services including electricity, water and drainage and poor interpersonal relationships are there are no open spaces for neighbours to interact in and children to play. This is not to mention the dangers of fire and electric failure that these people are exposed to.
But all is not lost as the authorities may redeem this troubling trend. All unapproved construction projects in progress must be stopped and if possible demolished before the investors put in more money. Financiers should also stop lending funds to unapproved projects and conduct regular inspection to those they fund to ensure that they are constructed as per the approved drawings. An all inclusive body that encompasses architects, engineers, town planners and representatives of investors should then be created to inspect all existing buildings and recommend alliterations to those that have flouted city bylaws to ensure adherence. Only those buildings that may be impossible to redeem should be demolished. This will ensure minimal losses to investors. City hall should then rid itself of all rogue inspectors whose main aim of visiting construction sites every week is to extort bribes from people.
After all is said, something really needs to be done. Otherwise, hundreds of thousands of Kenyans are living at the mercy of fate, hoping that tremors strike elsewhere and fires start in other buildings, but simply put, they are living in ‘highrise graveyards’.
this issue is of high concern…May God keep protecting us from earth quakes……
God help us.
If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.
God did not give us brains and not expect us to use them. So, He will not protect us from earthquakes just like he did not protect the chang’aa drinkers from blindness when they took the killer swig.
Bottom line, do your part and leave God to do His! Your part is to your job well and get a house you are sure is well built!
Wat can the ordinary kenyan- Wanjiku- do?
We are waiting for disasters to happen then cry out loud
We are waiting for disasters to happen then cry out loud.The Form a committiee to probe the cause of the disasters.
This is an excerpt of an article (‘In the recesses of our days’)posted in faithwriters.com
‘….We haggled with a friend about whether or not a nation needed repentance if it was going through famines, earthquakes and general strife. From the current goings on however, I drew parallels of interpretation from the bible about instances when God had brought down famines or destructive rains in torrents and floods to pass a message. Thinking of the general discontent in some countries, I wondered if our leaders could humble themselves with the rest of the nation and repent if that is what it would take to right things.
We had both watched a Fijian documentary entitled ‘Let the Sea Resound’ and which centered around the Fijian Islands unrest of May 2000 that came as a result of an election stand off after an Indian Fijian was brought to the helm of leadership and rejected by a percentage of the populace in a country of mixed races who had been having long standing issues. The events that preceded these dark days were dominated by discontent between native Fijians and the business oriented Indo-Fijians of Asian descent….’ you can read more on this in faithwriters.com
Earthquakes do not just happen
[…] In legal terms, no building in the city maybe constructed without the input of a registered architect. The control exists at city hall where all plans for approval must be signed by a registered architect who includes their registration certificate in the submission. However, due to corruption, this rule is barely applied. Less than 20% of all buildings in the city have the input of registered professionals. This means that 80% of Nairobians are living in spaces that can be considered ‘dangerous’. Refer to a previous article in the blog – Kenyans Living in Highrise Graveyards. […]
All you need to do is make the financiers culpable….
And you can find serviced apartments in London ranging from one-bedroom apartments to two bedroom apartments for a single person, a couple or for the whole family.
Many Fringe events are free or performed outside, creating an open and inclusive
environment for the arts. t simply an attraction to the numerous business and shopping facilities available.
The home of the reigning monarchs of England for over 400
years the palace is incredibly beautiful set at the end
of a long boulevard in the middle of St.
“may God help us”
this phrase is the single biggest problem in Africa today!
instead of putting our good brains to use in solving ‘solvable’ problems and holding those in public hospitals accountable we have decided to kneel down and pray!
grave concern due to human negligence and greed.
Recommend Alliterations??Articles with spelling mistakes really irk me!
Well noted @Wangeci. We shall make better use of spell check in coming days.