The senior and technical officials at the Nairobi City County Government have come under fire over allegations of permitting illegality in development, which ignored development laws.
This is according to the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ), also known as the Office of the Ombudsman, which found these individuals are liable for what happened after an investigation into the process by which approval for these illegal decisions was granted.
In its findings, CAJ advises the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to take up criminal charges against the involved officers. It also advises the Nairobi City County Public Service Board and the Assembly to take disciplinary action against those involved.
This has come at a time when Nairobi has been under intense pressure following the collapse of a 16-storey building in South C, which happened last month, leading to the demise of two people. Several state agencies are investigating this case as pressure mounts to address dangerous buildings in Nairobi.
The Ombudsman’s investigation started when Coldstone Investment Limited lodged a complaint in October 2023 regarding a dispute over a boundary with another developer, Khaleej Towers Limited, in Eastleigh.
Coldstone claimed that it was illegally approved, violating a host of regulations including planning, zoning, building, and environmental regulations. The company asserted that the structure encroached on its property rights, its privacy, as well as inflicting physical harm on its building.
Khaleej Towers Limited denied the charges, emphasizing their compliance with the requirements by clarifying that the disputed boundary area constituted a public sewer wayleave.
Nonetheless, after examination, the CAJ established that the sewer line lies exclusively within the land of Coldstone. Even though the sewer facility indeed caters to the general public, it does not convert private land into public land or exempt the developers around the area from abiding by the regulations.
CAJ also identified procedural and legal problems in the permit issuance of the project, which was referred to as CPF-AW765 and PLUPA-BPM-022413-Q.
Some of the violations recorded included non-compliance with the Physical and Land Use Planning Act of 2019, the Building Code, and zoning regulations set by the Nairobi County government. In addition, the bedroom windows did not meet the minimum of 2.4 meters from the setbacks, and the sitting rooms and balconies failed to meet the mandatory six-meter setbacks.
The Ombudsman stated that an approval letter was issued on August 30, 2023, before the Urban Planning Technical Committee had discussed the application and before final approval by the relevant County Executive Committee Member.
The Commission says these failures point to deep governance gaps within Nairobi County’s planning and approval systems, raising serious concerns about public safety and accountability.