Victims, survivors of South C building still waiting for justice

Rescue efforts ongoing at a collapsed building in Nairobi's South C estate along Muhoho Avenue. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

It has been nearly five months since the 16-storey building on Muhoho Avenue crumpled into a mountain of twisted steel and dust, trapping workers and killing two men. Yet today, not a single prosecution has been filed or a single shilling paid to the injured survivors. And the family of the late watchman, Ali Adan Galgallo, still waits for the compensation they were promised.

Worse still, documents obtained by The Standard now reveal that the collapsed building and a neighbouring 15-storey “ticking time bomb” are directly associated with Kenneth Bitange Nyachae, the son of Kenya’s powerful late politician Simeon Nyachae.

Abdi Karim Hassan, the chairperson of the South C Residents Association, in a letter dated May 11, 2026, addressed to Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome, details a frustration that has now festered for nearly five months.

The residents issued a seven-day ultimatum back then, demanding answers on the fate of the two buildings. Those seven days have come and gone, yet the silence from Ardhi House remains loud.

The building collapsed in the early hours of January 2, 2026, killing two people, Ali Adan Galgallo, 30, and another watchman who was manning the structure.

Their bodies were recovered after a six-day search. Several other workers were injured, some with crushed limbs and broken spines and so far none have received any form of compensation.

The tragedy was not a sudden accident, but a foretold catastrophe because, according to documents seen by The Standard, the developer, Abyan Consulting Limited, had been approved to construct only 12 floors. 

When the building came crashing down, it was reaching the 16th floor.

The county government admits it flagged the illegal construction not once, but three times in May, July, and December 2025, when enforcement notices were issued but were ignored.

In July 2025, three site agents, Hassan Jacub, Abdiaziz Hassan Jakub, and Wycliffe Omondi Onyango, were arrested. Yet, just days later, they were back on the site after being released on a paltry Sh20,000 cash bail.

Documents filed at the Companies Registry identify the sole director of Abyan Consulting Limited as Yussuf Mohamed Yussuf. According to the National Construction Authority (NCA), the company’s annual practising license expired on July 31, 2024, yet, for over a year, Yussuf and his company built with impunity.

Further documents show a tangled web of ownership extending to Bridge Port Apartments Limited, a firm associated with directors, including Kenneth Bitange Nyachae and Eastline Construction Company Limited. 

That particular building, located on a neighbouring plot, is now described by residents as a "ticking time bomb", approved for 10 floors but is now standing at 15. The collapse of the Abyan building caused documented structural damage to the pillars of the adjacent 15-storey Bridge Port Apartments, but the building remains standing, a constant reminder of the disaster that could have been much worse.

The land at the heart of this saga, LR No. 209/5909/9, has a history as complex as the approvals that failed to stop the illegal construction. A Certificate of Title (I.R. 35969) seen by The Standard shows that the land was transferred to Bridge Port Apartments Limited. But before that, it was held by Kenindia Holdings, a company with deep ties to the Nyachae family. Kenneth Bitange Nyachae serves as a director of Kenindia Assurance Company, a firm that is part of the same stable of companies.

A CR12 confirms that Kenneth Bitange Nyachae is not just a director but also a shareholder in Bridge Port Apartments Limited, alongside Eastline Construction Company Limited. This places the Nyachae name squarely at the centre of the two buildings, the collapsed one and the threatened one.

But the residents are not blaming just the rogue developer. They are pointing the finger at the system—specifically at Patrick Analo and the Nairobi City County technical committee, as well as the professional consultants on record, architect Gideon Chege Mwangi, engineer Peter Kimani Kireru, and quantity surveyor James Kirika Njoroge.

"The blood of those endangered by these 'death traps' is on the hands of the regulators who chose silence over action," said Hassan, chairperson of the South C association. 

"We demand a public safety certification or a demolition order," the residents told the CS. In their letter to CS Wahome, the South C Residents Association made six demands. They wanted the immediate release of the multi-agency inquiry report. They wanted the prosecution of negligent officials at the county and NCA. They wanted Yussuf Mohamed Yussuf and Kenneth Bitange Nyachae blacklisted," he added.

For the father of Ali Adan Galgallo, time is a luxury he does not have. The watchman left behind three young children and a father who now struggles to feed them on an income from selling miraa.

"I hope the compensation will come soon," the father said. “The building owner has started discussions with the family and said he will pay something but up to now, not yet,” said Galgallo's father, Edin Sharamo.

“We have had a meeting once. One time, he wanted us to meet but I had gone to the village. I hope that the compensation will come soon to help in educating and feeding his three children,” he added.

He said Galgallo was his firstborn.