By Pascal Ndegwa - Reporter
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Kenya, October 25 ,2026 - Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has issued a six-hour ultimatum to Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, demanding that he retract claims that City Hall approved the construction of the multi-storey building that collapsed in Eastleigh.
Sakaja said he would take legal action if the legislator failed to withdraw the allegations and the document he circulated purporting to show that the development was approved in February 2024.
In a statement, Sakaja said some people were peddling a fake approval document alleging that the Eastleigh development had been approved. He claimed the same document had been used by the developer to obtain approval from the National Construction Authority (NCA).
According to the governor, the document alleges that the development was approved in January 2024, a claim he dismissed as false. He said county records show that the application for development was made in November 2024 and therefore could not have been approved earlier that year.
Sakaja further explained that there is a difference between a change-of-user approval and a development approval. He said the developer applied in August 2024 to change the use of the property from residential to residential and commercial, with the change of use approved in October 2024.
However, he maintained that no development approval was ever granted for the building. The governor said the developer went ahead to construct the structure without building approvals, despite enforcement action by the county and arrests.
Sakaja said county officials had taken enforcement action on several occasions, including in July, after the developer failed to comply with an enforcement order. He said suspects were arrested but released the same day on Sh50,000 bail at Kamukunji Police Station, while prosecution of the case was denied.
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The governor criticised what he termed the limited power of county governments to prosecute violations of county laws, saying the power was taken away from counties in 2024. He said Nairobi County had repeatedly written to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions seeking the restoration of prosecutorial powers.
Sakaja argued that fining a developer Sh50,000 for an illegal development worth hundreds of millions of shillings, without orders to stop construction or remove the offending structure, was unreasonable. He said he had raised the issue in the Senate and would continue pushing for a review of the position.
The governor added that all instances where enforcement action had been curtailed, blocked or interfered with would be published for the public.
The dispute follows claims by Babu Owino that the collapsed building had received county approval on February 13, 2024. He shared a document allegedly showing approval for a proposed residential development on Plot LR No. 36/II/40 along 9th Street in Eastleigh, Kamukunji Sub-county.
Babu accused Sakaja of lying to Kenyans over the approval status of the building and demanded accountability.Sakaja, however, maintains that the county only approved a change of use and that the architectural plans submitted for the proposed 15-storey building with a basement were never approved. He said the structure had risen to 18 floors by the time it collapsed.
The controversy has shifted attention to the approval process, enforcement failures and the role of professionals linked to the project, even as investigations into the collapse continue.