Detectives want the owner and contractor of the building that collapsed in Kisumu last month to be charged with manslaughter.
Investigations into the collapse of a building that was under construction are almost complete, the detectives said.
The building that collapsed in Mamboleo Estate on September 14 killed three people. The victims were members of the same family. They included a man, his wife and his sister-in-law.
Six people who were working at the site sustained injuries and were rushed to hospital. They were later discharged.
Kisumu county DCI boss Francis Wanjau told the Star that the file will soon be forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for further directions.
Wanjau said investigators will recommend to the DPP to have the developer and the contractor who was implementing the project charged with manslaughter.
The Star has established that the building belonged to James Samo. He is the brother of Kajulu MCA Roy Samo.
"It emerged from the investigations that the project didn't meet set guidelines. It didn't even get authorisation from relevant authorities," Wanjau said.
The National Construction Authority had stopped construction of the building but the developer allegedly defied the directive.
NCA directed that works stop in May after conducting inspection twice at the site according to Nyanza NCA regional coordinator Amos Musau.
"We had asked the contractor to suspend construction works after it was established they had failed to conform to laid down requirements. That was in May, four months before the two-storey building crumbled," Musau said.
Rescuers retrieved the bodies of the three victims who were buried under the rubble. Building inspectors from the authority and those from the city's planning department are known to frequently visit construction sites to carry out routine inspections.
How they failed to notice the contractor had ignored their directive still remains a puzzle.
Jared Odhiambo, a survivor, said the victims had brought food to the construction workers. "I was on the other side of the building when it began shaking. Within seconds, the building came down," he said on the day of the tragedy.
It was not clear how many workers were at the site at the time of the tragedy even though it is claimed that about 60 workers were present.
Another survivor who did not want to be named said the developer was at the site at the time of the accident.
"He was here monitoring the progress of the construction and taking pictures," the man said.
Edited by P.O
