Kenya's killer buildings: 100 collapses in 30 years, few developers punished

The sound of a building giving way, tonnes of concrete crashing to the ground and desperate rescue teams digging through rubble for survivors have become a familiar nightmare in Kenya.

Six people were killed and five injured when an eight-storey building collapsed in Syokimau on Friday, November 13, 2026, adding to a grim record of 100 building failures in 30 years and raising a troubling question: why are those responsible rarely held accountable?

The latest disaster occurred along Mombasa Road, where an eight-storey building under construction suddenly gave way, trapping workers beneath the debris and triggering an emergency rescue operation.

Authorities said 405 people were at the construction site when the structure collapsed, but all were eventually accounted for.

"So far we have confirmed six bodies, but also five people have been rushed to Imara Daima Hospital," Duncan Ochieng, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of disaster management, told journalists at the scene.

Ochieng said the upper section of the building collapsed while construction work was ongoing, prompting emergency teams to move in and secure the area.

"Three bodies were retrieved during the initial morning operation, while three more were recovered later from the debris. All six victims were middle-aged men," said Nairobi County Chief Officer for Disaster Management Bramwell Simiyu.

The county fire team and the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team were deployed to search through the rubble for anyone who might have been trapped.

The Kenya Red Cross identified the location of the incident as Syokimau, southeast of Nairobi.

The tragedy came less than a month after an 18-storey building collapsed in Nairobi's Eastleigh area on October 23, killing eight people. The latest incident has renewed concerns over the safety of buildings across the country and the effectiveness of measures meant to prevent poorly constructed structures from claiming lives.

Figures from the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development show that Kenya has recorded 100 building collapses over the past 30 years, with more than 40 people dying in such incidents in the last five years alone.

The highest number of collapses in a single year was reported in 2022, when 13 buildings came down. Another 12 incidents were recorded in 2021, with a similar number reported in 2023.

In 2018, nine buildings collapsed, while seven incidents were recorded in both 2015 and 2019. The country registered four collapses in 2024 and another four in 2025.

Beyond the deaths and destruction, inspection figures reveal the extent of violations within the construction industry, with many developers failing to meet the required building standards.

Between July 2025 and April 2, 2026, the National Construction Authority (NCA) inspected 21,282 construction sites across 14 regions to assess compliance with construction regulations.

The exercise resulted in 12,018 sites being suspended for failing to meet the required standards, while only 9,264 passed the inspections.

This translated to a national compliance rate of 43.5 per cent, meaning more than half of the inspected sites had failed to satisfy the required conditions.

Nairobi recorded the highest number of inspections, with 3,908 construction sites assessed. Of these, 1,647 were suspended over various violations, while the region posted a compliance rate of 57.86 per cent.

Western recorded the highest compliance level at 77.83 per cent, followed by Mount Kenya at 65.88 per cent.

North Eastern had the poorest performance, with only 11 of the 220 sites inspected meeting the required standards, translating to a compliance rate of five per cent.

Upper Eastern recorded 14.93 per cent, while Central Rift and Coast registered compliance levels of 18.38 per cent and 20.25 per cent, respectively.

Other regions included South Nyanza at 54.46 per cent, Lower Eastern at 52.05 per cent, Kajiado at 48.30 per cent and Kiambu at 43.94 per cent.

Central Eastern recorded 32.88 per cent, North Rift 29.64 per cent, while Central Nyanza had a compliance rate of 20.68 per cent.

The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) has attributed building collapses to poor workmanship, the use of substandard construction materials, inadequate supervision and faulty structural designs.

These weaknesses have placed developers, contractors and other professionals involved in construction under scrutiny, particularly over their responsibility to ensure buildings meet approved safety requirements.

The NCA has enforcement powers to deal with developers and other industry players found to have violated construction regulations. Its measures include suspending building works and pursuing the arrest of those suspected of committing offences.

Under the enforcement framework, the authority is required to forward information relating to an alleged offence to the officer in charge of a police station, who can then initiate the arrest process.

Developers can, however, have suspended construction activities reinstated after correcting violations identified by NCA inspectors. The authority must first establish that the site meets the required standards before lifting the suspension.

To strengthen enforcement, the NCA has also established a specialised unit comprising 15 police officers to support inspections in areas where construction violations have been reported and further action is necessary.

The law provides for criminal penalties against individuals who deliberately disregard orders issued by investigating officers.

Section 23(3A) of the National Construction Authority Act states that anyone found guilty of wilfully failing to comply with an investigating officer's order faces a fine of up to Sh1 million, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both.

"A person who wilfully fails to comply with an order of an investigating officer under subsection (3) commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both," reads the Act.

Despite these provisions, the number of successful convictions remains relatively low compared with the scale of construction violations and the number of reported building collapses.

According to the report, the authority had secured only 15 successful convictions across various counties as of March 31, 2026.

The report also highlights difficulties in completing investigations into building collapses and taking those implicated to court, warning that the limited number of prosecutions has emboldened individuals responsible for construction violations.

The low conviction rate raises questions about whether developers and other players whose actions contribute to unsafe buildings are being adequately punished.

Apart from the National Construction Authority Act, all construction projects are required to comply with the National Building Code 2024, which sets out standards for building design, construction and maintenance.

The code seeks to ensure structures meet the required levels of quality, safety, health and environmental protection.

Regulation 5 places a responsibility on anyone undertaking construction work, as well as building owners and occupants, to observe its requirements.

"A person who engages in construction works or a person who owns or occupies a building shall comply with the code," reads the regulation.

Regulation 6 further requires building designs and the supervision of construction works to be undertaken by professionals registered in their respective fields.

These include physical planners, architects, engineers, land surveyors, building surveyors, quantity surveyors, accredited site supervisors and skilled workers, who must all be registered under the relevant laws.

However, repeated building failures and the loss of lives continue to expose weaknesses in the enforcement of these requirements.

While the NCA has the authority to stop construction projects that violate regulations and pursue offenders, the small number of completed investigations and successful prosecutions points to a gap between having laws in place and ensuring those who break them face consequences.

With 100 buildings having collapsed over three decades, the latest Syokimau disaster has once again placed the spotlight on a construction sector struggling with safety violations and accountability, leaving questions over how many more lives will be lost before enforcement becomes effective.