By James Murimi - Reporter
Kenya, January 5, 2026 -The collapse of a building under construction in South C, Nairobi, was not an accident but the predictable result of deep-seated regulatory failures, Kenya’s architects have said, mounting fresh pressure on Nairobi County and national regulators to take responsibility.
In a hard-hitting statement issued Monday, the Architects Alliance (TAA) accused approval authorities, inspectors and political leaders of presiding over a compromised development control system that continues to endanger lives despite repeated warnings.
“The measure of a regulatory system is not how harshly it punishes failure after lives are lost, but how effectively it prevents failure before tragedy occurs,” said Dr Sylvia Kasanga, speaking on behalf of TAA.
The architects said the South C collapse once again exposed entrenched institutional weaknesses, including compromised approval processes in which proper architectural and structural scrutiny is diluted or sidelined, reducing approvals to “transactional exercises rather than professional safety assessments.”
TAA also pointed to a breakdown between approvals and inspections, arguing that post-approval supervision, compliance monitoring and enforcement are routinely treated as optional rather than mandatory statutory duties.
According to the statement, corruption and bribery within parts of the approval and enforcement chain have allowed illegal developments to proceed, not because they meet safety standards, but because enforcement can be delayed, negotiated or ignored.
The alliance placed ultimate political responsibility on Nairobi City County’s leadership, saying the governor bears accountability for a system that has repeatedly allowed unsafe and unlawful buildings to rise “despite professional warnings.”
It further faulted the Board of Registration of Architects and Quantity Surveyors (BORAQS) for failing to decisively curb unregistered and proxy practice, and accused the National Construction Authority (NCA) of chronic enforcement failures, including weak contractor licensing, poor site policing and lack of meaningful consequences for repeat offenders.
“This collapse was not an accident,” TAA said. “Building collapses are the foreseeable outcome of systemic failures in governance, particularly in approvals, inspections, supervision and enforcement.”
The alliance revealed that it has, over several years, formally warned both national and county authorities that Nairobi’s development control regime had become “dangerously compromised,” through memoranda, policy submissions and repeated engagements with the county government.
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In response to the South C tragedy, TAA demanded what it termed “immediate and non-negotiable actions,” starting with full public disclosure by Nairobi City County of all approval records relating to the collapsed building, including architectural, structural, zoning and planning documents.
It also called for disclosure of all post-approval inspection and compliance records, such as inspection schedules, names and qualifications of inspecting officers, site instructions issued, and any stop orders or enforcement actions taken.
“The absence of this documentation raises grave concerns about competence and integrity within the enforcement system,” the statement said.
TAA further demanded an independent forensic investigation, free from county or political influence, with findings made public, and personal accountability for approving officers, inspectors, supervisors, developers and financiers found culpable.
The architects also urged immediate suspension and prosecution of any public officers implicated in unlawful approvals or negligent supervision, restoration of professional-led site supervision, deregistration and blacklisting of rogue contractors and professionals, and a county-wide audit of all ongoing and recently completed high-rise developments.
Beyond regulation, TAA framed the tragedy as a moral and professional reckoning. “Kenyans rightly expect architects to be guardians of life, dignity and safety,” the alliance said, adding that where architects fail, they must be held to account, and where they are excluded or reduced to nominal roles, “the entire development control system becomes unsafe.”
The alliance conveyed its condolences to families who lost loved ones in the collapse and expressed solidarity with construction workers, residents and the wider South C community affected by the disaster.
“Safe cities are not accidental,” TAA said. “They are built through design, discipline, competence and courage.”
