Police are yet to arrest the well-connected woman who owns the Tassia building in which 10 people were killed last Friday and 21 others left homeless.
The rich elderly woman is known to Embakasi residents as Njoki or Mama Kanyoni.
Embakasi sub-county police boss Mathew Mangira said arrests will be effected after investigations on the collapse of the six-storey building are finalised.
“This was a complex matter. Lots of investigations need to be done. The matter is being investigated by a multi-agency [team] comprising the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Nema, National Construction Authority, among others,” Mangira told the Star on Wednesday.
He said that samples from the scene were being analysed and hinted that apart from the owner, the contractor, the engineer, and the architect would be questioned.
“It is a calamity. The National Construction Authority have their standards for buildings. That is why apart from the owner, those who did the construction must also be held liable,” Mangira said.
A police source had earlier confided in the Star that Mama Kanyoni "rolls with big shots".
The death toll rose to 10 on Sunday. The rescue operation ended on Monday afternoon.
“The woman who owns this building and tens of others in the city is well known to the high and mighty. There is no office in this land which she doesn’t enter,” the source said.
The building, according to him, was in a precarious condition. The officer did not understand why tenants continued living in the building.
“This building was actually uninhabitable. It doesn’t even have beams. The construction materials used here were substandard,” he said while pointing at the rubble.
The Star was told that the woman owns several such buildings in various estates.
Monthly rents are upwards of Sh4,600. Tassia residents showed the Star several houses said to belong to the woman. A two-storey mabati structure pulled down during the rescue mission allegedly belongs to her daughters.
Mangira said the 21 people rendered homeless were accommodated at Tassia Catholic Church. They are assisted by well-wishers and the Kenya Red Cross.
He said they had not received reports of missing persons. “There are nil records of people missing. Anyone with information of a missing person is asked to report to the police,” he said.
