By Alfred Ng’ang’a
On the second day of 2026, the collapse of a multi-storey building in Nairobi’s South C Estate has dampened the positive vibes that characterised the festive season.
As Kenyans slowly return to work and begin adopting new year’s resolutions, the collapse of the building in South C once again places all stakeholders in the building and construction space in the spotlight.
See, the collapse of the 16-storey building, which was still under construction, comes barely a month into the December 2025 discovery of yet another building in Parklands with visibly cracked columns.
In 2026, one of the resolutions that all stakeholders in the building and construction industry, from real estate investors and steel manufacturers to building contractors, engineers, architects, enforcement agencies and even those in the cement manufacturing arena, must make is to be our brothers’ keepers.
As I write this opinion, the news sipping in provides very scant details on suspected fatalities. However, the magnitude of the collapse is serious enough to warrant a sector and industry-wide review of the current Building and Construction Operating Practices.
We can no longer afford to call a spade a big spoon. These incidents are not acts of nature and must be called out for what they are: professional negligence, leading to preventable tragedies.
Professional negligence in the building and construction sector, unlike in the medical world, is normally a chain of events. A chain comprising several, but interlinked, parties; the Contractor, Civil/Structural Engineers, Architects, Approving Officials at the County Government, Inspection and Surveillance officers at the National Construction Authority (NCA), among others.
These parties bear a cardinal responsibility and obligation to ensure that buildings under construction adhere to stipulated construction and public safety standards.
Such responsibility behooves them to maintain strict surveillance to ensure that approved designs are translated to physical structures under their supervision. The professionals, including the site clerk of works reporting to the site civil/structural engineer and architect, must also ensure the use of quality materials.
There can be no denying that the proliferation of counterfeit and substandard materials and non-compliance with design requirements are contributing factors to the poor structural integrity of these collapsing buildings. The only way to ensure the use of quality materials is to rely on laboratory-certified materials, from cement and concrete to steel and aggregates.
The sector regulator (NCA) must be adequately resourced to enforce the Kenya National Accreditation Service (KENAS) for building materials testing services, as a measure to address the decline in quality of materials being introduced to the market.
It is in the public domain that major firms such as Bamburi Cement are working hard to maintain quality cement production. The company was recently in the news for making a significant investment, including the construction of a new US $250 million Clinkerisation plant in Matuga, Kwale County. This marks a positive step for a company that also provides Mobile Concrete Materials Laboratory testing services. Such on-site quality testing and expert technical advice ensure public safety and peace of mind for property investors while strengthening supervision standards.
This year, all building and construction stakeholders must make a new year’s resolution to ensure proper materials testing, accurate traceability, and professional supervision as part of a mission to be our brother’s keeper in the new year and beyond.
Traceability of all materials and professional supervision for all building construction projects must be strictly enforced as a matter of life and death. It cannot continue to be a poorly kept secret that substandard steel, paints, cement, electrical wires and even timber and related materials are readily available in this market.
Mr Ng’ang’a is a Corporate Communications Consultant.
