President of Kenya ordered arrest of owner of collapsed building

Baku. 30 April. REPORT.AZ/ President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday ordered the arrest of the owner of the building which collapsed at Huruma estate on Friday night, leaving eight people dead. Report informs citing the BBC. This brings to 15, the total number of people killed as a result of the heavy downpour that has been hitting the city.

The President asked IG Joseph Boinett to "identify and arrest owners" of buildings that do not comply with National Construction Authority requirements.

The owner, identified as Samuel Kamau, has been ordered to report to the nearest police station.

Uhuru further instructed the Interior ministry and the Nairobi county government to survey of houses that are at risk of crumbling.

"Those in houses that are at risk of collapsing should also be directed to move to buildings that are safe," Uhuru said when he visited the site of the collapsed building.

He gave the orders after National Construction Authority said they condemned the house but the directive to demolish it was ignored.

Uhuru was accompanied by Mathare MP Stephen Kariuki, Nairobi Women Rep Rachael Shebesh and Dagoretti South Constituency Dennis Waweru.

Rescue operations continued at the site for a better part of Saturday in efforts to save those feared trapped under the rubble.

Earlier, Nairobi deputy governor Jonathan Mueke said the collapsed building "was too close to a river and there was no way the county approved its construction".

Mueke said the county government will launch investigations into the matter after the rescue operations are complete.

The building, which had 198 single rooms, came down following heavy rains currently pounding Nairobi and its environs.

Houses nearby were also declared unsafe.