By Eddah Waithaka
The leading professional associations of Kenya’s construction industry have issued a blistering joint statement, demanding an immediate end to the culture of negligence and impunity that leads to fatal building collapses.
This unified call to action follows the recent collapse of a building under construction in South C, Nairobi.
The groups, representing architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, planners, and project managers, began by expressing profound sorrow for the lives lost and shattered.
“Each life lost represents a collective failure that must weigh heavily on our conscience,” the statement reads, declaring such disasters “should be a thing of the past” in a professionally endowed nation like Kenya.
In a stark departure from the norm, the associations directly called out their own members. “Where our members have failed in design, supervision, certification, or ethical conduct, they must be held to account,” they stated, refusing to shield culpable professionals.
The coalition pinpointed systemic failures across the entire development chain, from corrupt approvals and political interference to the use of quacks and substandard materials.
They declared that fixing broken county planning departments, which often treat approvals as mere revenue streams, is a critical first step.
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Every county must now employ qualified Chief Officers for architecture, engineering, and planning to enforce standards.A central demand is the unequivocal accountability of developers.
“He who pays the piper calls the tune,” the statement asserts, calling for developers to face immediate obligations for reparations and full audits of their other projects.
The professionals lament that over 200 buildings have collapsed since 1996 with no evidence of learned lessons. “Failure to make people take responsibility entrenches this culture of impunity, and there is no way to stop it,” they warned.
To prevent future tragedies, the associations demand immediate action. They prescribe the formation of a multi-stakeholder task force to investigate the recent collapse and expose systemic failures, while also mandating rigorous peer review at every project stage and a clear separation between designers and implementers.
Furthermore, the coalition calls for the establishment of a National Planning System to standardize development control across all 47 counties.
Their final, non-negotiable directive is the enforcement of swift, decisive, and transparent sanctions including deregistration and prosecution against all culpable parties, from consultants and contractors to the developers themselves.
The groups committed to working with national and county governments to restore integrity. “The causes are known. The solutions are known,” they concluded. “What is required now is courage, coordination, and commitment.”
The unified call to action carries the weight of Kenya’s entire built environment sector, represented by the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK), Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), The Architects Alliance (TAA), Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya (IQSK), Association of Construction Project Managers of Kenya (ACMK), Kenya Institute of Planners (KIP), Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK), Women in Real Estate (WIRE), Interior Designers’ Association of Kenya (IDAK), Town and County Planners Association of Kenya (TCPAK), and the Project Management Institute Kenya (PMIK).
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